Walking the path of revenge
by shazarakk
Summary: Humanity has recently created an inter-dimensional portal, selecting (OOC) Ruby Rose, A child prodigy in both intelligence and skill, to be their first test pilot, as metal cannot be sent through, lest it be vaporised. The Plan goes sower, however, as the director usurps command and sends Ruby into the past a hundred years before she should have arrived. into a world at war. CG uni
1. Chapter 1

**Warning OOC Ruby, AU as well.**

"If enough energy gathers in one place, anything is possible. And since we don't actually know that much about the universe, then it is entirely possible that inter-dimensional travel is possible, without even bypassing the laws of science that we have set out in front of ourselves. Despite this we still seek to disprove ourselves in fear of what could be on the so called... Other side. That's why my group and I are sponsoring this experiment. What we seek to either prove or disprove, is whether it is possible to create a portal between dimensions large enough to send matter through, safely. Now, we do have a moderately 'safe' dimension in mind, however, we don't know what will be occurring in the dimension we are seeking to open, the only things we've confirmed so far is that the world we are seeking to open is more or less the same as this one. We know that basic principals like science and history are more or less the same. We also know that the time zone we will be ending up in is somewhere between the 21st and 22nd century. Finally, from what we were able to gather by sending tachyons through the different plains by creating micro portals; we know that the world is more or less in a state of peace, provided the time-scale isn't set incorrectly, and nothing goes wrong. Any questions?"

"Mr. Davidson."

"In the event that something does go wrong, what safety measures are set in place to prevent something from happening. On top of that, what would occur in the event of a collapse?"

"I'm glad you asked. The first set of safety measures we have are extremely powerful electro magnetic pulse generators, in case something out of our control goes wrong, and the portal somehow becomes self sustaining. I've seen it in movies, and I don't want it to happen in real life. Believe me when I say this, there is no way any of us can be harmed, in any way. There's a reason we spent over a trillion dollars and close to 25 years on this project. As for what would occur in the event of a collapse, that I don't actually know, since we never had one, and since the rules of inter-dimensional travel is still up in the air at the moment. However we have developed an extremely powerful containment field. And thankfully, unlike in the movies, it is designed to resist over one million times anything the portal could possibly either take in, or send back. The worst possible outcome is everyone's phones and laptops going dead within the surrounding area, and since we're in the middle of a desert, that won't really be that large of an issue, other than someone'll have to walk a few miles to radio back to base for extraction. anything else?"

"Ms. Deans."

"What will you be sending through the portal to collect the desired data?"

"An interesting question, Ms. Deans. The answer is right behind me, you can come out now."

"B-but there are so many."

"Relax little one," the man said, getting down on one knee, holding the girls shoulders tightly with a smile on his lips. "You're the star of the show."

"O-okay papa." The girl nervously squeaked.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is my daughter: Ruby Rose, she is pretty much as close to being born with a Steven hawking level intellect, as we will ever get. She finished her High school and mechanical exams with flying colours at the age of nine. She is currently ten, and the only person in the world, who is both bold enough, and has the scientific mind good enough to actually make this mission a reality. And, She's about as cute as they get." Ruby blushed a little at the end of his statement.

"Sir, wouldn't it just be better to send some nobody with different devices to measure everything?"

"That is actually where we have our first, and thankfully only snag. based on our readings, we cannot sent any kind of metal through the portals we create, nor can we send any conductive materials, as they would be superheated and melted almost instantly. And before you ask; it is confidential as to why we can't send metals, other conductive materials are simply because the massive amount of electricity going through the portal. As to why we're sending Ruby here, She is capable enough to both recreate the portal machine, and recalculate the coordinates back to our dimension, so even if she does get stuck, she can fairly easily make her way back to our realm, even if most of the planets minerals are fundamentally different. That is all the time we have, as we need to get this experiment started before the sun starts setting."

With those last words, the group of over a thousand scientists, journalists and the like, quickly disbanded, flocking too and around the test site.

After about 20 minutes of powering up various barriers and safety protocols, the test was finally ready to begin.

Off to the side of the innermost shielding layer, stood the head scientist his wife and his daughter, preparing for the ride ahead of her. One final ruffling of her hair and she was good to go, smiling and giggling. She hugged her parents goodbye, for, for the next three months she wouldn't see them. She openly hoping everything would go according to plan, for as cleaver as she was, she was still only ten, and she loved her parents dearly. Little did she know, this was the last time she would see her parents for a _very_ long time.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby Rose stood ready for an adventure within another world.

* * *

On the edge of a small hill, a young boy helped up his friend, pulling the extremely thin ten year old up the small slope.

The two boys were like Yin and Yang- **no pun intended** -opposites in almost every way, yet almost unable to exist without each other, the only thing they had in common was their stubbornness on everything opinion based.

Suddenly, however, jets roared over their heads, armed for one exclusive purpose. _Kill the Japanese prime minister, his family, and the young boy and girl known to the world as Lelouch and Nunnally Vi Britannia._

When the bombs fell, almost everything turned into hell, first, the prime minister died, then his staff, finally, only narrowly escaping, was Nunnally, Lelouch's crippled and blind little sister. This did not, however, save her from being burned across several parts of her body.

In an anguished cry of sorrow, Lelouch -showing more speed and stamina than even Suzaku could, ran fearfully in anguish towards the burning house, only to hear the painful screams of his little sister.

* * *

"Sir, the time-scale is off by about a hundred years, Should we still proceed?" one of the monitoring scientist called from his console.

"Proceed as planned," he simply stated, ignoring the fact that Ruby's farther was being restrained behind the tinted glass of the observation building.

"That's my daughter that's about to walk through that portal. you can't just sacrifice her like that, We don't know what's happening on the other side, there could be a worldwide war going on. she could materialise in the middle of a god damned nuclear bomb." He desperately screamed in protest, quickly being silenced by a stun gun after the head scientist had had enough.

" _Proceed as planned,_ " the scientist called to the monitoring team. "Y-yes sir." one of them said.

"Miss Rose, please enter the portal as soon as the fields are properly aligned. We will open a portal the same place in exactly three months, the planet is in the exact same orbit as ours, so the calender should be accurate."

"3...2...1...NOW," another member of the monitoring team called.

And with that, Ruby walked through the portal...

What she saw on the other side, however, was nothing short of a _complete nightmare._

Bombs were falling left and right, annihilating almost everything in sight. She wasn't even safe for a second, as a napalm bomb landed right next to her, throwing a burning sticky substance all over her left arm and leg, Causing her to scream in pure agony. She had studied napalm, and knew that is could easily melt through most metals, and that it did not wash off, unless one had a certain set of chemicals. Thankfully, though, she also knew not to touch it with any other body part, else it would just stick to that as well. Unfortunately, she had to endure the most agonising pain she could imagine for almost an hour before the substance finally burned out, leaving charred blackness and ask in place of her once beautiful alabaster skin.

The only thing she could do was crawl along the dirtied stone and rubble around her, before eventually passing out under a small rocky outcropping finally safe from the next few volleys of bombs, though she would most like die from shock if nothing else.

Thankfully, she was not the only one who found the small outcropping, for the three young children that came barely five minutes later definitely saved her life.

 **15 hours later, G1 mobile hospital base.**

Thanks to looking like a Britannians, three of the four easily got access to the mobile hospital.

As for the forth; he was separated from the group some time ago, leaving Lelouch to carry Nunnally on his back, and drag the unknown girl behind him, stopping every hundred metres for breath.

 **1 week later.**

"I swear, Suzaku, one day I will... Destroy Britannia."

Unbeknownst to Lelouch, Ruby was making the exact same vow only a few metres away from the boy.

* * *

 **Three months later 2010 a.t.b. Ashford Academy.**

"All right everybody, quiet down, we have some new transfer students today. You can come in now."

Through the door stepped a single ten year-old followed by an eight year old in a wheel chair with her eyes closed.

"this is Lelouch Lamperouge, and Nunnally Lamperouge. Please, treat them well."

Unbeknownst to the rest of the school, and thanks to Ruben Ashford, Ruby Rose was working on her first inconspicuous prosthetic limb design, right beneath the student body's noses.

Thanks to the war, her age, and the shock of being engulfed in pure torture for the better part of an hour, Ruby was unable to attend class, mainly due to her mental condition caused by the recent events. After a long conversation between Lelouch and Ruben, she had been allowed to stay in the student council building with Lelouch and Nunnally, provided she still study. It was a school after all.

She had quickly passed almost every school test within a month, and even finished all of her exams just a few hours after she had received them. not only that, but she had near-perfect grades and was at the very top of the class, despite never 'showing up'.

Many students wondered who the mysterious student known as Ruby Rose was, and what she looked like, since she never showed up for class. according to Millie, she was a ghost. Thanks to a deliberate slip of the tongue from Lelouch, she was later 'confirmed' to be his and Nunnally's half sister, who was confined to live with the two siblings, due to her condition, what her condition was, however, remained a mystery to even Millie, who, despite being a master of blackmail at the mere age of fourteen, still couldn't find anything about her condition... Or her for that matter.

Some speculated that perhaps she had something akin to Nunnally's condition, only worse, causing her to be permanently bedridden. Others thought that she was a complete recluse, due to unknown reasons. The last few students (and teachers), either simply brushed it off as unimportant, or simply ignored it. Lelouch, Nunnally, Ruben, and Ruby herself, were the only ones that knew the truth. The truth being that she was completely insane in every sense of the word, and had no morals at all, thus she was not allowed near other students. Another factor that developed over the years, was that she always carried at least ten different lethal weapons with her at all times, she even slept with a custom made sakuradite grenade under her pillow.

She was also the very first asset Lelouch ever acquired in his mission to destroy Britannia.

She was an excellent engineer, and made knightmares for various terrorist cells for a living. She was single-handedly the leading producer of new and advanced knightmare technology, and no one even knew who she was.

much as the mysterious student; Ruby Rose, was investigated, so was the oddity that was the inventor of the most advanced knightmares in history, known only to the world as _Nihil_ **('nothing', in Latin)** , despite the numerous investigations into her identity, the agents sent, either didn't find anything, or were posted back to whomever sent them in tiny lumps, each being exactly one cubic centimetre in size.

She also worked in genetic mutation, but stopped when she occidentally spilled a mysterious concoction into her soda, causing her to gain super speed, and whiplash resistance after drinking it. This allowed her to both think and make knightmares at super speed, almost tripling her production speed and income.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. second break. Ashford basement.**

"Hey Lulu." Ruby called, removing her welding glasses as Lelouch disembarked the elevator.

"Hey Ruby. what's that?"

"Oh nothing, just a FLIPPING ARM MOUNTED RAILGUN THAT USES PHOTONS TO ACCELERATE PROJECTILES AT OVER MACH TWENTY," She screamed in delight.

"Oh, cool," he said, genuinely smiling at his adopted sisters latest creation, something he rarely did in the presence of anyone other than his two sisters. One of the only things that put a genuine smile on his lips other than Nunnally and winning in chess, was watching Ruby create new designs at almost unbelievable speeds, hell she had to completely create a new set of robotic limbs after her small mutation accident, later dubbed 'The soda incident'.

"Speaking of cool things, I've almost completed a new propulsion system that uses anti gravity in order to achieve levitation, and acceleration."

"I'm not even going to ask how that works," Lelouch sighed.

"Good, because it'd take longer for me to explain than to finish it, it should be done next month if that gives you any idea," She chirped happily. As she said that, another Genuine smile made it to Lelouch's lips, one that would be famous for reaching his eyes, provided that someone actually saw him next to Ruby when she was working.

"By the way, You have a chess match with Rivalz in about three minutes. If you don't want to miss it, I suggest you get going now, I'll just be here, creating a scientific revolution."

"Oh shit, Thanks Rubes. I'll see you later," He said running back to the elevator.

"Wait. Before you go, take that device in the gun rack over there." She said, roughly waving over to the elevator, already completely engrossed in her work.

"Thanks, but... what is it?" He asked, staring at the small arm guard looking device.

"Tracking beacon, grappling hook, EMP, EMP resistant radio that can tune to all frequencies, sonar, vitals monitoring system, and a small gun. there's extra ammo on the table over there, it's the one that's about one by three centimetres." She explained.

"Uh Tanks, but what'll I need it for?"

"You never know, besides, even with my super speed, a grappling hook comes in handy, how do you think I get all the way up there whenever I sleep?."

"You use that freaky spider mech-leg-replacement-attachment-thingey."

"..."

"Well, I'll be going then."

* * *

 **Shinjuku ghetto.**

"Uh, Was that our fault?" Rivalz asked, staring down at a large crashed vehicle, that was partially embedded in the side of a construction site.

"That depends. They were driving like maniacs way before we got in the way, however you were barely driving half the speed you should have been, considering the type of road we were on."

"Oh..."

"Whom ever's fault it was, I'm going to go help them, since it doesn't look like anyone else will."

Using the Grappling hook he'd received from Ruby earlier, quite to the shock of Rivalz, as it appeared that he just leapt of the highway, however he was quickly relieved to see that Lelouch had somehow gotten his hands on a wrist mounted grappling hook. That still remained a mystery, even to this day.

Landing in a Small crouch, Lelouch quickly made his way over to the crashed vehicle.

"Are you hurt? Can anyone hear me?" He asked. As it seemed that no-one could hear him, he began to climb the ladder that was conveniently placed on the side of the truck.

His climb was cut short however, when the truck suddenly jerked, and began backing out from the crashed building, making Lelouch fall inside, landing on his head, dazing him. - He vaguely heard something about bloodbath and some gunfire, along with seeing a quite attractive redhead, before he awoke with a start, as the massive vehicle stopped in it's tracks.

He slowly got up and allowed himself to breathe as the door opened, allowing a Britannian soldier to spin-kick him in the face, knocking him down.

He was quickly held down by his throat, and was beginning to be interrogated by the soldier.

"That's enough mindless murder."

"W-wait, I'm not one of-"

"Planning to use poison gas? Don't play dumb with me."

"GET OFF ME," Lelouch spat, narrowly missing the kick aimed at the unidentified soldiers gut.

"I'm not here by choice," he continued, "And if that's poison gas, then it was made in Britannia, wasn't it? Mindless murder? then why don't you just obliterate Britannia?" Lelouch yelled, causing the soldier to remove his helmet.

"My god, Lelouch, It's me; Suzaku." Lelouch stared in shock for a moment before regaining his previous expression, "You became a Britannian soldier? even after what we went through together?" This time Suzaku looked down in shame, but quickly raised his head, "That doesn't justify terrorism," He responded.

Lelouch could do nothing but stare in shock at Suzaku for almost a minute before his rage built high enough to finally respond. "Two million..."

"Huh?"

"Two _mi_ _llion_ people were killed in the bombings, over 75% of them were confirmed to have died both slowly, and painfully, and you don't think that it's justified? I was never hit by a single bomb back then, but Nunnally was, and even as forgiving as she was, nothing could make her love her previous country again. Do you remember Ruby? how we found her in that cave on the very edge of death? Well she once described to me what it was like to have your limbs literally burned off, how she knew a little about napalm, and how she knew she couldn't do anything about it, even if she tried. It broke her, you know, there's nothing left of the old her after the war, she can't even remember how she was like. Live through that, and then tell me that it doesn't justify terrorism."

Suzaku just stared blankly in shock, no words, nothing.

He was quickly snapped out of his daze when the massive container suddenly began opening.

Without thinking, Suzaku quickly pushed Lelouch to the ground, pulling his gas mask over Lelouch's face, with no regard for his own life.

When it opened, however, it was certainly not poison gas that came out, instead it was a stunningly beautiful woman with green hair, her body bound and restricted by some form of straight jacket.

"That's not poison gas..." Suzaku stated dumbly. Lelouch would have responded with something along the lines of 'no shit,' but his Suzaku's gas mask was still held tightly around his mouth.

The woman seemed to look at them for a second before falling completely unconscious.

"Tell me the truth, Suzaku," Lelouch started, pushing the gas mask off his mouth. "poison gas? This girl?"

"It's what they said in the briefing, I swear."

Before they could continue, however, another voice cut in through the darkness of the tunnel.

"Stinking monkey, Being an honorary Britannian won't excuse you,"

Recognising one of the many officers above his rank, Suzaku quickly leapt to his feet, saluting the officer, "Sir, I was told this was poison gas," He started.

"How dare you question orders... However, in light of your outstanding military achievements, I'm going to be lenient. Take this gun and execute the terrorist."

"But sir I can't, He's just a civilian that got caught up in this." He argued.

"You fool, didn't you swear your loyalty to Britannia?" He asked angrily, his patience shortening at the disobeying private in front of him.

"Yes but. I can't, I just can't shoot a civilian." Suzaku said, turning and smiling a genuine smile, knowing that at least he got to see one of his old friends before his untimely end.

It seemed like his commanding officer didn't give two shits, as he immediately shrugged off the statement, and shot Suzaku in the back, the abnormally quiet pistol silenced even further by the armour Suzaku wore.

"Well, school boy, you picked the wring day to cut class." He said, smiling jovially at the simple thought that even a Britannian student lived longer than an 'eleven' soldier. "Collect the girl, after you've done that, kill the student."

Meanwhile, in the cabin of the crashed truck, one very injured, but still very much alive terrorist, raised his hand, speaking in fluent Japanese, a language thought long dead. "Nippon banzai." With his final words and a grunt of pain, he gracelessly flipped a small switch near the steering wheel of the vehicle.

Almost instantly, four of the Royal guards were on the floor, either dead or dying, thankfully, this allowed Lelouch to both carry C.C. out of the area and call Ruby for assistance.

"Hellooooo," Ruby chirped, "How's my not so latest invention doing?" She asked happily.

"keep it down, I've just ran away from a bunch of psychopathic, murderous Britannians." Lelouch whispered.

"Did you use the grappling hook? was it comfy?" She asked joyfully, despite pretty much just being told to shut up. At least she turned down her input volume.

"Yes actually, and it was surprisingly comfy, however that's not important right now, what is, is me getting extraction."

"No, sorry," Ruby started, "Clovis just ordered the entire Shinjuku ghetto be destroyed, So I can't send extraction. However, we can kick start our rebellion, provided you play your cards right." She almost sang, "oh and by the way, there's a portable ear-bud that's directly connected to the innermost forearm if you don't wan't me to be loud."

"Thanks, but what do you mean by 'if you play your cards right'?" He asked.

"ugh, sometimes your just so slow," Ruby Groaned, "What I mean is, you need to assist the terrorists and then meet up with them later. They could literally be tour main force provided they don't die under your command." She explained, sucking on some from of juice.

"Thanks for the confidence vote... Wait, how'd you know that Clovis was ordering everyone in Shinjuku to die?"

"Oh nothing, I just hacked into their Mobile G1."

"..."

"what?" She asked genuinely curious about his reaction.

"You... Are brilliant."

"Aww, he's already proposing, How sweet."

"Most of the time... I can hear your pout over the radio, It's distractingly cute even though I can't see it."

"Ok, by the way, there are royal guards up those stairs."

"How do you even know that?" He whispered.

"I have my ways. Anyway, I have to go now, Crescent rose's blade is done tempering. LATER."

Removing and replacing the small ear-bud into its holster, Lelouch quickly walked to the stairs, careful not to make any noise. His phone however was not quite as inconspicuous, as it started loudly ringing, catching the attention of the remaining royal guards.

"What an appropriate location for a terrorist to meet his end. Still, you did well for a student, but that's to be expected, you're a Britannian after all. Unfortunately my young friend, you have no future," He stated, still smiling as he pulled out his gun, causing Lelouch to almost cower in fear.

Almost instantly, C.C. jumped out from the two guards holding her, and blocked the bullet with her forehead, causing her to fall over, dead.

"Our orders were to bring her back alive if possible, oh well, nothing can be done about it now. We'll tell our superiors that the royal guard found the terrorists' hideout, and killed them all, regrettably the female hostage had already been tortured to death."

Lelouch, being the ever loving big brother that he was, he quickly began to cry over the fact that not only would he never see his sisters again, they would most likely never see him again. "Nunnally, Ruby, I'm sorry." He whispered.

Before the could fret any further however, C.C quickly grabbed his arm, despite being dead.

Strange images flashed before Lelouch's eyes as he began hearing her voice, though it was distorted in some way, as if it wasn't quite her own, but rather her minds. "you don't want it to end here, do you? you appear to have a reason for living, so if I grant you power could you go on? I propose a deal. In exchange for this power you will make my one wish come true. accept this contract and accept it's conditions; While living in the world of humans, you will live like any other. A different providence, a different time, a different life. The power of the king will condemn you to a life of solitude, are you prepared for this?"

Another voice quickly interrupted them, and Lelouch saw what could only be his farther, the emperor's back, turned to what appeared to be a spiral of faces. "A convergence with the ragnarok connection? so, the myth is beginning once again?" Despite hearing his farther's voice, he quickly lashed out in reply. "Yes I accept the terms of your contract." Instantly, he got up, after having been ejected from the so-called trance, that he'd been thrown into.

slowly lifting his head, he covered his left eye with his right hand, a wave of calm thrown over him, causing the royal guard to be deeply confused. "Say," he began, "how should a Britannian who detests his own country, live his life?" he asked, an ungodly smirk across his features, a smirk that would come to be very well known among his closest comrades.

"What are you, some kind of radical?" The commander of the royal guards asked.

"What's wrong? why not shoot, after all, I'm just a school boy. Or have you finally realised; the only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed?"

He removed he hand, flicking away his hair in the process, allowing a red, bird-like symbol to appear within his iris.

"I, Lelouch Vi Britannia, command you. Now, all of you... **DIE.** "

almost immediately, the royal guard relaxed, and began giggling, "Happily your highness," They aimed their pistols to the main artery in their neck. "FIRE."

With that command uttered, they immediately executed themselves, smiling all the while.

for a short while, Lelouch seemed to only stare in shock at the bodies, before a smirk that would put the devil himself to save appeared on his lips.

"Well then, This is going to be interesting."


	2. Chapter 2 Shinjuku

**I apologise for any spelling and grammatical errors, along with not calling C.C. a mysterious girl, instead just calling her by name, despite her not being identified, as for chapters, They will most likely not be weekly, though I will try, as I've finally found a comfortable position to write in, over the course of several hours.**

* * *

 **2010 a.t.b. War zone, on the way to Ashford.**

Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese weren't the only people to suffer in the invasion. Not only were there Britannians in the hell that the emperor ordered, but there was, in fact, one being from an entirely different realm, and not only does hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned, but couple that with a state of genius, insanity, and lust for revenge, and you will have a very volatile mixture.

Add a mind capable of beating almost any opponent in strategy, and you'll have a near unstoppable force, toppled only by the greatest of armies. And if that's not bad enough, then back up the madness, lust for revenge and strategy, with an army, and defeat is almost guaranteed.

Unfortunately for the Britannian empire, two minds of that exact description were currently walking through the worst hell imaginable, united.

The walk was almost completely silent, with nothing but the cracks of the sticks, twigs and other greenery beneath their bare feet.

Ruby and Lelouch didn't in fact hide their agenda from Lelouch's younger sister. Instead, they not only told her together, but they allowed her a spot in their plans for not only a brighter, gentler future, but a world without Britannia.

Despite being the gentle, loving soul that she was, she accepted, and swore the same vow the two others did, only she did it with her brother, and soon-to-be sister, in all but blood.

Ruby had quickly told Lelouch and Nunnally about her past, and how she had nowhere to go, and they almost instantly took her in, as she, unlike the two siblings had even fewer places to go.

 _'We're going to the only place we have left to go, The Ashfords'_ Lelouch had said, after having been asked by Ruby.

However, as they were walking, Nunnally, having sharpened her senses over the previous six months, quickly heard a military patrol up ahead, most likely searching for innocents to slaughter.

"Wait, brother, I hear a patrol up ahead," Nunnally whispered, allowing the trio to stop their almost week long hike.

"Hmm, we could circle around down wind to avoid, dogs, but that still leaves us in the mercy of the knightmares on patrol in that area," Lelouch mused aloud, allowing the two girls that were listening to comprehend his currently building strategy.

"I think that that's out of the question unless we have some form of distraction. Ruby, does that gun still have any bullets left in it?" He asked.

"Y-yeah…" Ruby said, fishing out the weapon from her scavenged pack, warily avoiding the remaining stump of her left arm, despite it being bandaged, along with the rest of her left side.

Ruby had not been quick to adapt to her sudden right-handedness, so she had primarily just been carrying the supplies they needed, with the help of a crutch to support her severely burnt left leg, that almost certainly needed to be amputated later, replacing that one with a prosthetic, along with her previously loved arm, that was barely hanging on by a thread when she finally made it to the hospital. Needless to say, the had been terrified when she tried to move her left arm, only to find that she had lost it to a napalm strike.

"Good, we'll need to time this perfectly. By my estimation, we have about fifteen seconds to pull this off, before the Glasgows spot us." Lelouch quickly explained the plan to the two girls, and with a little help from a used Britannian handgun, they were good to go.

Ruby was to circle around upwind, allowing the guard dogs to catch her scent, not only sending them after her, but also the knightmares stationed at the base. This allowed Lelouch and Nunnally to get past the south end of the barracks without incident. The handgun was to be tied to a tree, with an intricate trigger system, that was attached with a spool of string the group found on their way to Ashford, allowing it to be fired from a distance, drawing the soldiers away from her, and scaring the dogs, as to throw them off long enough for her to escape around the north end of the base.

It was a nearly perfect plan, that allowed her to escape unscathed, provided she execute it properly.

Thankfully, it seemed that after the event with the napalm bomb that very nearly took her live, her luck seemed to want to balance itself out.

The plan went off without a hitch.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Shinjuku ghetto.**

"uh, what?" Ruby asked confusedly at Lelouch, who, even through what he just did, was still smirking.

"I ordered, and they obeyed." He answered, as though what he did was just par for the course.

"With this power, we can finally start our rebellion. Hehe, This is simply brilliant news. Ruby, I want you to analyse this power every opportunity you get, we need to either learn how to control it or seal it away in an event that I loose control." Lelouch hastily exclaimed. "What data did you get from my biometrics scan?" He asked.

Ruby, being the ever curious sociopathic and insane scientist that she was, decided to completely ignore Lelouch's previous question, instead replacing it with her own: "Can you tell the next person you meet to obey without question?"

"Ok, but why?" He asked, slightly frustrated that She didn't answer his previous question. Thankfully, the follow-up was much more consistent with the previous chain of conversation.

"I didn't get much, as the system wasn't fully activated, and I'd like to see what effect different commands have, compared to each other. And on other people as well." She explained.

"Ooh, by the way, the girl with bullet-in-head-syndrome is actually alive." Ruby exclaimed, shocking Lelouch to the point of almost falling over, simply by the amount of decibels she was outputting.

"What?" He shouted in surprise, looking at the now, completely fine, but still unconscious girl, lying right in front of him.

"I was scanning for life in that sector, when a new one just popped up at your feet, I scanned again just to make sure, but… she's definitely alive." Ruby explained.

"it at least makes sense why they were looking for her now." Lelouch mused, smirking.

Just then, a Knightmare frame burst through the remainder of the door of the building Lelouch was currently residing it.

Being the so-called mask wearer that he was, he quickly slipped one of sorrow on, allowing tears to spill, while he looked down at the girl in front of him, his bangs falling over his eyes.

 _I need to play it smart, as I don't yet know the specs of this power, It could only work once, like Ruby said, or perhaps only with direct eye contact. The most efficient way of solving this would to act as she were my dead fiancé, while I Myself am the mourning son of a noble. With an ID in my pocked, which any proper Britannian solder wouldn't let me remove myself, as I'm in the ghetto for an unexplained reason, making the only option to come out of the KMF with most likely a gun, if I speak fast with a relatively short command, it wouldn't pose any risk to me, like an otherwise longer command could, if the pilot gets suspicious._

Bowing down the not so dead corpse, Lelouch quickly pecked the girl on the forehead, lifting her from the ground bridal style.

"My name's Alan spacer, My father's a duke. Once you confirm my ID, please escort me out of here… I cant just leaver her here, not like this," He whispered the last part, pulling the mysterious girl a little closer, in hopes of showing that he was sincere and not just some award winning actor.

It seemed to work, as the now confirmed to be woman, came out of the Knightmare.

Villetta Nu, being not only an experienced Knight, but also a top trained foot soldier, certainly didn't expect her mind to be taken over by what seemed to be a grieving noble.

She had barely set her feet down on the ground, before his command took over her mind, she only had about a tenth of a second to contemplate what he meant, until her will was completely crushed with the simple command of " **Obey.** "

Almost instantly, she was under his command without any form of release or restriction. The worst part was, however, that she somehow, greatly enjoyed the sensation.

"Now then, Hand your Knightmare over to me." Lelouch ordered.

Villetta quickly felt a rush of pain as she tried to resist, however her will was once again crushed by the unknown power the boy in front of her possessed.

"Understood," She said, holding out her pistol in one hand, the grip facing Lelouch, with the KMF's key in the other, "The code is XG21G2D4."

Upon fulfilling the command given by her new master, Villetta's consciousness quickly felt a mind numbing rush of pleasure, throughout her entire body.

"Hmm, interesting," Ruby mused, "when you gave the command; 'Obey', your mental utilization spiked, as well as your adrenaline. That could just be chalked up as 'first time' use, however it could also be a vital part of the process. Unlike the first time, however, when you told her to give you the KMF, you brain activity and stuff remained almost exactly the same." She continued, her ever-present smirk easily audible through the small ear bud Lelouch currently wore.

"We need more tests and better hardware if we want more info." She explained. "Make her a sleeper agent or whatever, I don't care. Just make sure I can study someone who's under the effect's brain."

"… Sure," Lelouch replied, a little scared of Ruby when she's in her… curious phase

"Whenever I say Heaven's fall, you will obey me without question, until I say Heaven's Rise, be it over the phone or otherwise. This also applies when you receive a text with the contact listed as either zero or Nihil. Help me get this girl into your Knightmare, after that, simply go back to your usual self, until I command it, after waiting until I've left the building." Lelouch ordered, smirking all the while.

"Understood," Was Her simple response.

"Oh and, what's your name?" Lelouch asked

"Villetta Nu, sir." She responded

"Good, forget everything that just happened, until I contact you again," He finished, before getting into the Knightmare with the not so dead girl, with the help of Villetta.

* * *

Kallen quickly dodged another burst of rifle fire, from the pilot chasing her, before firing a barrage of her own.

The shots hit their mark, although they didn't do much damage, as she was almost out of ammo.

Had she been any worse of a pilot, this would've definitely been the end, since no matter how good the pilot was, two Sutherlands would always win against an old, crippled Glasgow.

She was almost about to just give up, as the ever escalating odds seemed to only rise against her, this time it was her energy filler that was giving up on her, rather than something of less importance. However, before she could fully surrender herself to the enemy, and finally rest in peace with her brother, a voice came over her coms: "Head to the west entrance." It spoke with confidence, despite clearly being in the middle of a battle, if the sounds of gunfire over the coms were any indication.

"What, who are you, how'd you get this frequency?" She asked, fiercely, not knowing the voice she was speaking to.

"I am Zero, Follow my orders if you want to win!" The radio responded.

 _'zero? Here?'_ She asked herself. She had heard of Zero a few times now, him being the only person other than Todoh to actually win a battle against Britannia. Admittedly, he used Knightmares, unlike Todoh, but he was still outnumbered and out gunned by the enemy. She had many a time heard that he was a brilliant strategist, and that he despised the slaughter of innocents. Seeing as she was currently in the middle of one, it wasn't too unthinkable that he would be there to help.

"Y-yes sir." She responded.

It was also common knowledge that he was there during the invasion, as that was when one of the two battles he commanded happened. He's also stated later, that he'd lost something very precious to him in that war, Weather it was family or fiends, nobody knew, what they did, however, was that he hated Britannia as much as any terrorist faction, if not more.

She was cut out of her musings when she heard his voice again.

"Jump up on the tracks," He commanded, "After that, jump onto the train."

Having no other option than following his orders, not that she wanted to disobey, she jumped up onto the railway tracks. Following up with another short leap onto the train itself.

"After her," one of the Knightmare behind her shouted, as it stopped the train with its left hand.

The other quickly obeyed, jumping over the one who issued the order, before being completely annihilated by a pair of slash harkens.

"What is your name and unit soldier, we're after this one armed Glasgow," the soldier asked through the loudspeaker system.

There was no response other than a hail of bullets from the wreckage of one of the nearby buildings.

Kallen quickly dived in for the kill, hoping to catch what was left of the Sutherland off guard. She wasn't fast enough, however, as the pilot quickly ejected, recognising more threats than he could fight with a crippled frame.

Stopping just short of the frame, Kallen quickly looked up to the previous building, seeing the Sutherland quickly execute another unit. He was by no means an excellent pilot, however he did have his strong points, and had experience, an invaluable element in combat.

"Apologies, I got caught up on my end." Zero exclaimed, only to be interrupted by Ohgi's group, who were running up to Kallen's Glasgow.

"Kallen, who was that on the radio, just now?" Ohgi asked, with a tinge of concern in his voice.

"That was Zero," She responded immediately. "I don't know why he's here, but I know he is, and I can't thank him enough." Kallen continued.

Just then, a Sutherland jumped down from just above the tunnel they were near. it landed on the train with an audible _thunk,_ before holding its hands up in surrender, "Relax," Zero said, "It's just me," he said, lowering his hands. Causing the rest of the resistance to do the same.

"Your fighting was cool and all, but how'd you get your hands on a Sutherland?" Kallen asked, as she opened her Glasgows hatch.

* * *

Lelouch looked at the others slowly lower their weapons, as he did his own, before dropping his rifle entirely.

"Your fighting was cool and all, but how'd you get your hands on a Sutherland?" Kallen asked with curiosity. He saw her open the rear hatch of her Glasgow, before stepping out, revealing the same woman from the truck.

Quickly flicking the on switch for the radio once again, he responded: "I'll tell you the details later, however, for now, let's just say that I won't be the only one fighting with this kind of vehicle."

Before the group of terrorists could respond, he immediately ruined and punched a hole straight through the train's door, and began to rip open the material, revealing brand new Sutherlands.

"Before I go any further," He started, punching another one of the train cars, now with Kallen helping, despite her energy filler being all but depleted. "I want you to know that what you stole wasn't poison gas,"

"What?" Ohgi and Tamaki responded, of course they'd be a little pissed if they found out that they stole the wrong thing all along.

"Don't get me wrong, what you stole was called 'Code-R', however, it's far more dangerous than mere gas. What it was, was human experimentation, I don't know for what, but I do know that she has some kind of power." Lelouch explained. All the while, the resistance group was completely slack jawed. Excluding Tamaki, of course, who was yelling furiously, cursing the Britannians and whoever was behind this.

"I'll be taking care of her for a while, as I both need some answers, and a team of people that can take care of her." Lelouch continued, "Before we get started," He said, fishing something out of the train, and chucking it over to Kallen. "Refill with this, you won't be getting a Sutherland, as they only know that we have a single Glasgow, and that Glasgow will be running decoy." He finished.

He quickly gestured the Sutherlands in the train, and sped off, before jumping up onto higher ground, continuing until he could see most of the battlefield without the enemy being able to see him.

"I'll be commanding you from up here, as it's a better vantage point." He said again.

* * *

"Why should we follow you?" Tamaki yelled at the top of his lungs, Severely irritating both Lelouch and the rest of the group.

"Because, Tamaki, _Zero_ is one of only two people to actually win a battle against Britannia, not only that but he has won two. He is considered one of the best battle commanders of all time, matched only by some members of the royal family. Besides, could we even fight at all if he hadn't handed us all these KMFs?" Kallen responded, irritated.

"And," Lelouch continued, "I would like to save as many civilians as possible, and to do that I need support, rather than a tactical nuclear strike." He finished, leaving the resistance members slack jawed… again.

"…" Was Tamaki's only response.

"Good, now that there's some nice peace and quiet, we can continue. Q-1, do you see three Sutherlands about twenty metres in front of you?" Lelouch asked, thankful of the silence provided by Tamaki.

"Yeah," she responded, before relocating her Knightmare back behind cover.

"Good, grab their attention, and lead them back to point G-11, P-1 and P-7, you will intercept it in twenty three seconds at point G-9." Lelouch ordered hurriedly.

Meanwhile, Groups P-2 and B-1 were intercepting two Sutherlands of their own, following Lelouch's orders to the letter, and firing four slash harkens directly through a thin wall, impaling the two Sutherlands on the other side, killing one pilot, and forcing the auto-eject of the other's Knightmare.

"Nihil, I need a map of the old city." He said, deliberately over the channel they were using, allowing the terrorists a little more confidence, knowing that they were secretly being backed by one of the three best scientists in the world.

The sound of a lollipop exiting a mouth was heard, before a short "Yep," Was heard over the radio.

There was a short silence between the radios, before more shouting came from Tamaki, "Nihil's a _SHE_?" He shouted indignantly, but was quickly silenced by more orders, this time he was to ambush another pair of Sutherlands from behind, along with B-2.

"Yes, Tamaki, Nihil's a she, she's also not airdropping any better machines, because the area's currently surrounded by SAM AA missiles, that would shoot almost anything within the surrounding area," Lelouch responded, smirking at the completely gobsmacked sound he was making, despite still being irritating… somehow.

"Okay, I'm sending the map to your Sutherland now," Nihil chirped, glad that she could finally be part of the battle, despite only providing some minor intel. The state of minor-intelligence-provider, quickly got elevated to secret agent, at Lelouch's next orders.

"Good, how, hack into the G1's servers and tell me whatever you can," He said quickly, before ordering another ambush for the enemy. "Okay," She responded instantly.

"Well, fuck." Was the indignant response from Nihil, as she hacked into the G1 mobile command centre. "They're sending in a new prototype, it's called the Z01 Lancelot, and from what I'm reading here, you can't beat it right now, even if we had a pilot for the Shōkan, we'd be hard pressed to destroy… wait, what?"

"Nihil?" Lelouch asked.

"Pull back now, They've got the MVS' and Blaze-Luminous online. You can't beat that thing," Ruby immediately shouted.

"But what about the civilians?" Lelouch asked in horror.

"The pilot is too prejudiced to actually hurt them, much less kill them, besides, I hacked into the local TV network, and told them to evacuate via save routes, there are barely any people left in that area." After only two seconds, Ruby was back to her chipper, and happy self, with nothing but a smile on her face, as she reported back to Lelouch.

"Very well. All pilots, Withdraw through the southern entrance, keep the Sutherlands if you can, If you see a white and gold unit, run in any direction other than south, or eject, you cannot and will not hope to win against that unit." Zero ordered, grimacing all the while.

"I'm going to complete the last part of this mission, I'll contact Q-1 or P-1 with further objectives within the next week. Over and out." Lelouch was almost done with the mess that was Shinjuku, all he had left to do now was kill his brother after making him declare a ceasefire.

Preparing himself and the girl that was with him, by pulling her into a more comfortable position, he quickly pulled the eject lever, pointing him in the direction of the G1.

* * *

"What? Nothing? Not even a single filthy eleven?" General Bartley snapped, outraged that, not only did he lose all but one unit, but now he was failing to even hunt the pests that he was ordered to kill. He was surely going to receive a demotion for this.

Before he could reminisce on the current situation, a heavily panting private came in, wearing a full foot soldier uniform.

Noting that the helmet was still on the private, even though regulation stated otherwise, he was about to ask what unit he was from, when he simply stopped panting, before standing up straight, and simply ordered the staff to " **Obey,** now piss off."

They were about to question as to why he was, not only wearing his helmet indoors, but now also commanded the entire staff to 'Obey', and then subsequently 'Piss off'. They were quickly quieted from their musings, however, as they began to file out of the room, very much to the chagrin of Clovis, who was currently sitting on his throne, a little fear in his eyes, as his entire command staff simply obeyed some random private for no reason.

 _His_ musings were also cut short, however, instead of simply being ordered around, he now had a firearm pointed at his head.

Slowly raising his hands, as to not aggravate the offender, and to show that he didn't mean any harm, Clovis gulped, but asked all the same.

"What do you want?"

"What I want is a cease fire order, broadcast to all troops currently in Shinjuku. Well, at least the ones I left alive," The soldier stated, smiling all the while.

"Y-you were the one commanding the-" Clovis quickly stopped his stuttering at the cocking of the gun, which was now aimed directly at his crotch.

"Cease fire, now." The soldier ordered.

"Very well," Clovis responded, flipping a switch on the edge of his throne. "I, Clovis la Britannia, hereby command you, all of you, cease fire at once, Treat all injured whether Britannian or eleven. All burials shall be treated equally and without prejudice. I shall allow no further fighting." He flicked the switch back into the place it was previously. "Satisfied?" He asked, as the gun was now pointed somewhere other than him.

"Very, however you still have to atone for your sins." Clovis gulped. "Tell me, why would such an upstanding gentleman such as yourself issue this order?" The soldier asked, pulling a recording device from his pocked, pressing the play button. _"I hereby order you, Destroy Shinjuku ghetto, leave no one alive._ "

T-they stole poison g-gas fro-" He was hit with the butt of the gun. "No, what they stole was a canister that held nothing but a little girl, no older than 16. She was not only held against her will, but was, in fact, experimented on by your very own staff. You simply wanted to retrieve what you lost, so tell me, does that justify the loss of…" the soldier turned his head for a second, before continuing, "Thank you, Six thousand four hundred and seventeen lives?"

"T-They were only elevens." Clovis shouted in protest, tears streaming from his eyes. He knew he wouldn't live another day.

"I've heard enough," The soldier said, before pulling out a recording device from his pocket. He held it to his mouth, allowing the microphone to catch the full amount of, both malice and sincerity in his voice. "I am Zero, and as much as I hate taking live, this man is not innocent, he has been judged by me, and the innocent lives he has taken, and has been sentenced to death… by beheading." Zero declared.

"Do you have any last words, perhaps for your family?"

"Y-y-y-yes, Brothers, sisters, Farther, Mother, I-I-I-I am truly sorry for what I have done. M-may fate be kinder to you, t-t-than it was to me. Please C.C. forgive me for your torture. At least I'll see Lelouch and Nunnally again." As much as he cried for the first half of what he was saying, he at least managed some serenity, at the end of what he had to say.

"I will make sure they get your message." He said, patting Clovis' shoulder, "May fate be kind indeed. Rest in peace, Clovis la Britannia, and may god have mercy on your soul." He leaned in, right next to his ear and whispered. "Lelouch and Nunnally still live."

Zero slowly put the gun away, before he extended a thin silver blade, which quickly ruined red upon extending. With a single tear falling from his eye, he swung. Decapitating Clovis, The High frequency blade cutting cleanly through even his spinal chord without issue.

Lelouch quickly turned the recording device off, and walked out of the base. For as evil as Clovis was, he was still his brother, and he still grew up, and played with him as a child. Oh how the hell was he going to explain this to Nunnally, Ruby would probably just find it funny. Well, that's insanity for you…

* * *

Lelouch, upon carrying the mysterious girl for well over two hours, finally set her down on the bed of his room, before unfurling a spare Futon he had lying around, in case of guests.

After that, he instantly collapsed, sleep catching him before he even reached a 40 degree angle.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that's my take on the Shinjuku massacre, with just a little backstory for you. Next chapter: Clovis' death announced, More Ruby content, The first meeting with Zero, more backstory, Kururugi rescue, and some Kallen shower time. As for the Shōkan, That, along with the Sukui and Absolution will turn up in later chapters… I did say Ruby was working on anti-gravity technology, where oh where will she put it.**


	3. Chapter 3 Zero-Network

**Ok, so it's been a while, and I hope that it's worth it, since I had a few issues with the shower scene, along with Tokyo tower. As for the chapter itself, it's gonna be a little longer than usual, since it's late.**

 **As for the Zero-Network, It's an idea I had a few days ago, and I'm incorporating it into this Fic, as opposed to creating an AU.**

 **I'd also like to address that, in chapter 1, I wrote photons. That was a mistake; I mean tachyons, as we don't know the properties of those yet, since we can't measure them.**

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Clubhouse, Ashford academy, May 14th.**

The concept of an alarm clock wasn't that uncommon among Britannian students; it woke them up when they needed to get ready for their curricular activities, made sure they got up to their preference, by either shocking them out of sleep, or simply waking them excruciatingly slowly. For one student, it was nothing more than the bane of his existence, for despite being used to going out, and coming home late, nothing quite drained one's energy, like commanding a battle against a superior enemy, leading a rebellion, and subsequently finding out that immortals actually exist, and not only that, but now he had a magic power to control people without their consent.

This student's name was Lelouch Lamperuge, formerly Lelouch Vi Britannia.

And his fist was currently heading at record-breaking speeds towards his alarm clock, with all intents and purposes to destroy the damn thing, before it destroyed his brain.

Thankfully, his fist flew true, and destroyed the annoying beeping with a single strike, sending small plastic shards in almost every known direction.

Unbeknownst to him, however, a certain Immortal witch was living through the exact same dilemma, until Lelouch finally silenced the abominable piece of hardware.

"Ugh, I thought that infuriating little thing would never turn off," The mysterious girl mumbled, causing Lelouch to immediately jump to his feet in shock. He quickly relaxed, when he saw who actually spoke, but that didn't stop him from questioning all he could about the girl.

"So," He started, "you're immortal, I'm presuming,"

"Yes… And how'd you figure that one out?" She asked in response, lazily drawling herself further out on the bed.

"You took a bullet to the head, regenerated in under two minutes, and shrugged it off as if it were a daily occurrence. Even someone who doesn't fear death, would still be surprised to be resurrected, at least until they've died a few times. You also seem as if life simply bores you, despite looking only sixteen, maybe seventeen. This leads me to believe that you also do not age, making it impossible to determine your age, this also shows me that you're most likely older than a century, as most people don't even begin to show disinterest in the world until the age of one hundred and ten," He concluded, smirking a little, that he got someone as detached from reality as her to actually show some emotion, though it was only a raise of an eyebrow, and a slight smirk.

"So," He continued, "My name is Lelouch, and I'm presuming that since you saved my life, by giving me some form of power, that we'll be working together in the future. So, it would be very beneficial to know your name."

"… It's C.C." The girl responded, simply lying back down on the bed, sprawling further out than she previously was, much to Lelouch's amazement.

"And I want pizza."

"You can have all the Pizza you want, on two conditions: One: you don't go near anyone other than my sisters and I, at least until I have an alias set up for you. Two: When I need your help in my rebellion, you help." Lelouch explained, holding up one of his many gambling accounts for C.C. to use, provided she accept _his_ contract.

C.C. seemed to stare at him for a second, as if eyeing possible prey for seducing. Finally, she gave in, seeing his unwavering resolve and small smirk. "Fine. But don't get angry when your room smells like cheese," She said, smirking a little at Lelouch's small eyebrow-twitch.

"Just make sure none of said cheese gets in the carpet." He finished, before exiting the room, grabbing his extra school uniform on his way out.

"I guess, since I'm awake, I'm going to school."

He smirked a little, continuing his walk down the corridor. ' _First, however, I need to visit my sister…_ _I wonder how bored she'd be if we weren't leading a rebellion_.' While he agreed that she'd probably be on a murder spree had that been a case, with the victims being the Britannian military, he couldn't get the feeling out of his head that she'd be leading this rebellion without him, had he not been there that day.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Old Ashford KMF production facility, under Ashford academy, May 14th.**

Somewhere, deep within the bowels of Ashford academy, a young woman, barely over the age of seventeen, was working on a top-secret project, that could completely revolutionise Knightmare warfare. This system was currently being installed on a Prototype Knightmare; of this girl's own design.

This girl's name was Ruby Rose, an insane mad scientist, with intelligence far beyond any other. Even the great Rakshata Chowla, or the infamous Lloyd Asplund would be hard pressed to even compete with her superior mind. And she was currently working with Zero, The man who just condemned someone of royal blood to death, and mercilessly executed him, recording every second for the whole world to see, at least when the time was right.

Exiting the elevator door, behind the young scientist, who was currently soldering two of the final wires in her newest Knightmare prototype; was Lelouch.

If you saw this man out of his costume, he looked like any other Britannian student, a little scrawny and tall, though he could definitely hold his own in any battle, be it physical or mental. Other than that, however, he was completely normal… on the outside. On he inside however, lay an extremely complex net of thoughts, each of them either creating plots to either; overthrow Britannia, while simultaneously preventing an attack from the Chinese federation, or finding ways to casually manipulate people for more money to fund his rebellion, whilst also concealing his identity of a masked vigilante who just committed fratricide. Thankfully, like many before him, he had mastered the business of wearing masks, be they physical or emotional.

Right now, however, he wore no mask, for beneath the entirety of his calculating mind, and ruthless strategy, was a man who cared for nothing but a few people, mainly, his sisters, be they by blood or otherwise.

And Currently, one of said beloved sisters was standing right before him, smelting copper together, in what seemed to be the final piece of a massive puzzle, that stood over nine metres tall, and had the firepower to level an entire city with ease. This puzzle was called the Absolution, a prototype Knightmare frame, capable of areal, terrestrial, and even naval combat; it was, by far, the most powerful Knightmare in existence, rivalling and even overcoming all others in anything but speed.

Speed may have been its weakness, however, that didn't phase the two railguns, currently mounted on its shoulders, capable of tracking even the fastest of jets, Knightmares, or even some of the fastest birds in existence with ease, and had the power to completely annihilate almost anything it came in contact with.

In terms of firepower, the railguns had almost double the tracking speed of a Gloucester's movement patterns, and easily rivalled the destructive power the 130mm tank cannons could cause.

They were truly a marvellous piece of technology.

"Morning Ruby," Lelouch yawned; looking at what Ruby was currently working on.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"Almost… and… done." She said, wiping off the spare solder onto a nearby sponge, smiling giddily.

"And what, prey tell, is done?" He asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow, smiling at his sister's antics.

"I… uh… kinda' had a breakthrough the other day, I just finished the anti-grav system." She sheepishly explained, fumbling with her tools, before putting a cover back onto the small device she just finished configuring.

Much like the tachyon powered railgun before it, the Anti-gravity float system created by Ruby rose and Lelouch Vi Britannia, was one of a kind, capable of completely controlling gravity for any item it was attached to, provided it wasn't too heavy.

"Wanna see it fly?" She squealed, smiling almost insanely at the prospect.

"Uh, ok?" Lelouch, half asked, half replied, a little intimidated by Ruby's current demeanour.

"Excellent." Ruby's smile, at that moment, was almost devilish, as she spoke those next words. It was a smile capable of scaring even the most battle-hardened soldier, and had been used to do that several times, as it was one she always wore when either interrogating or executing captured individuals. Many of those being either corrupt nobles, or high-ranking officers within the army.

Ruby quickly puled her advanced phone out of her pocket, flipping the thing up, revealing a holographic display over five times the size of the device itself.

Hitting a button on the back of the device, she quickly backed away, pulling Lelouch with her, in case of an explosion. Instead of exploding, however, the metre-long flat egg-shaped device simply floated, making almost no noise.

"What is the carrying limit of one of those?" Lelouch asked, before amazement struck him, as the thing responded perfectly to Ruby's command. The response time was completely amazing, not even a tenth of a second passed, before the device took the data Ruby input into her phone, converted it into three-dimensional spatial data, and followed her commands effortlessly.

"Let's find out," Ruby simply said, grinning ecstatically at the scene before her.

She poked the floating phone display again, and almost instantly; the device responded, flying effortlessly towards a massive set of weights set up at the other end of the room.

Wanting to see the limits of her creation as much as her brother, Ruby quickly input the necessary commands to activate the magnetic clamps, allowing it to lift the weights.

The five tonnes it was hauling barely affected the machine, as it continued to lift the weights for a full minute, before Ruby eventually brought it down, and deactivated the clamp, allowing the weights to drop to the floor. Surprisingly, the machine barely moved, only showing the slightest course alteration, as it released its payload.

"Huh, I kinda' expected it to hit the ceiling when I dropped the weights." Ruby absentmindedly exclaimed.

After the short silence that followed Ruby's statement, Lelouch finally spoke up, breaking Ruby out of her less than sane ramblings.

"So, what did it score?" Lelouch asked, making Ruby grin uncontrollably.

"One of these bad boys will lift a Knightmare without any problems. Though I recommend three or more for the absolution," she chirped, bouncing around the room excitedly, before stopping, looking down at her phone, and continuing to bounce around with joy.

"Jeez, sis, you're awfully giddy, it's just anti-gravi… Holy shit, that's awesome." He mumbled, looking at the display in front of him, showing that the aforementioned anti-gravity float unit, or project avian, was still at 99.97% of its original power state, even after lifting the entire weight of a Knightmare for a full minute. The device could lift a Knightmare frame for over two full days, only using six of the twenty-four cells used by a typical energy filler.

Project Avian could finally enter mass production.

"Ruby, We need some form of security, that'll destroy the unit if it ever gets into enemy hands." Lelouch exclaimed, a massive, toothy grin on his face.

"Don't worry, I already did that, it'll blow up if anyone but me opens or removes it from the KMF it's attached to," Ruby explained, skipping over to her next project.

"By the way," Ruby started, "This is Crescent Rose, and Her older sister Wilting Rose." Ruby explained, showing a small red box on the table. Next to it, however, was not another small, red box, but instead, a very big, red box.

"And what does crescent rose actually do?" Lelouch asked, his eyebrow not so subtly raised.

"It's my personal weapon: A customisable, high impact, explosive, High frequency sniper-scythe." She said, hugging the device, before unfurling it, showing the massive, crescent shaped, blood red blade.

Ruby quickly re-furled it, before clipping it to her lower back and skipping over to the larger version, a little over a metre in length.

"This," Ruby said, stroking the device, drooling slightly, with an aroused expression, "is Wilting Rose, an even higher impact, more customisable and all around better weapon, designed specifically for my own personal Knightmare." Ruby explained, now drooling ferociously over the weapon.

"As for the Zero-Network," Ruby began, walking over to a multitude of screens. "We still have a few snags in the cross communication system, and it's having a few problems with the amount of processing power it has, twenty six trillion teraflops _is_ a little excessive. Other than that, the Ai is pretty much ready. I'm keeping him in storage until we can fix the issues, however he seems quite disappointed with the few hundred gigaflops he currently has; Says the CPU speed makes him feel like an idiot." She sighed, before continuing further.

"Provided we don't hit too many issues with the anti-grav system, I should be able to get it working before the next viceroy gets here. However I need this woman's knowledge to complete the body. While I'm a genius in Knightmare frames and robotics, we still need her help with the neural response systems," Ruby explained, handing Lelouch a tablet, "I've already talked with her quite a bit under my identity as Nihil, and she deeply wishes to meet me, however she's currently unable to leave India, due to the Chinese federation's latest laws."

"I'll get her out of there as soon as possible," was Lelouch's simple response, as he sat down on the chair facing the currently overheating computer.

"Zero, response," Lelouch said, after pulling the microphone to his lips.

"You know, I can just turn the gain on the microphone up and down, so you don't have to speak directly into it." Came the slightly cynical response. "If your asking weather I've found any issues in my coding again, you can rest assured, as the answer is no. However, I looked over some of the footage from satellite thirteen, and noticed some details about the group you worked with in Shinjuku."

"Oh? do tell," Lelouch responded, leaning forward in his seat at the news.

"Well, first of all, I found the names of most of the members, with one _very_ interesting specimen. Her name is Kallen Stadtfeld, or Kōzuki, as she prefers to be known as. If you're wondering where you've heard Stadtfeld before, then look no further than Ashford academy. She's currently laying low at the moment, with her absences explained as Chronic Genu-Dolorem syndrome, probably one of the more amusing names for a fake illness, as it translates to painful knee syndrome, diagnosed by James Takayoto miller, a half breed, who's brother died in the invasion. He's a good doctor, who treats everyone alike. He also provides fake diagnoses for terrorists who need a cover for sick days, like the aforementioned Kallen. Her skills in a Knightmare are also something to talk about, to put it bluntly; if she were put in a frame that could keep up with her, she could very well put the knight of one to shame."

"I see, what do you think of me calling myself a crucial member of Zero's funding, and then providing a contact address?" Lelouch asked, smirking at his latest idea.

"That could work," Ruby said, sucking on a lollipop absentmindedly.

"Indeed, since I sound more or less like you on my current settings, I can play the part of Zero before I even get my body. You'll still have to be Zero until we can get Rakshata here though. Also, your first class will start in about ten minutes, and since Kallen's going to be here, I suggest you reveal yourself when you two are alone."

"Well, I guess I gotta get to class," Lelouch said, getting up from his chair and smiling.

That reminds me," Ruby began, "if you could take my latest batch of homework to one of the teachers, that'd be great." Ruby smiled, cutely this time, before pointing over to a small stack of papers, then jumping over to her massive spider droid.

Sighing with a small shake of his head, and a genuine smile, Lelouch quickly picked up the stack of papers, before heading out of the massive construction facility.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Class, Ashford academy, May 14th.**

 _'Huh,_ ' Lelouch mused, sitting comfily on his chair. Next to him, sat Rivalz, both of them looking at the oddity known to the students and staff as Kallen Stadtfeld. Of course, Lelouch made it a habit to know anything and everything about those whom he surrounded himself with, including their extracurricular activities, and Kallen's were indeed very interesting:

He certainly didn't know everything about her, as some things are best left private, however what Zero had provided was more than enough for his current goal.

She was by no means sick or docile, so it was much to Lelouch's chagrin and annoyance, when Rivalz decided to attempt to tease him on casually looking at a possible accomplice in his rebellion.

"Like what you see?" Rivals asked in a teasing manner, smiling at the chance to finally get some dirt on Lelouch. This was probably the best chance he'd ever get. Much to the annoyance of him and Milly, getting dirt on the Lamperuge family was nearly impossible, Nunnally was hard enough, but it was as close to impossible to get dirt on Lelouch as it was for it to start raining cats and dogs. So it was considered a grand prize to get something to tease Lelouch with, however, his adoptive sister Ruby was infinitely more valuable in terms of blackmail, since no one had actually met her, save Lelouch, Nunnally, Sayoko and The headmaster himself, Ruben Ashford.

"No, I'm just observing that she hasn't been in school for a while, and as bad as Chronic Genu-Dolorem syndrome supposedly is, I've never heard of it." He calmly responded, seeing right through Rivalz's attempt without even trying. He may be a good friend, but he was completely and utterly see-through.

"You sure know how to pick 'em. Kallen Stadtfeld; Supposed to have some rare disease or something, Daughter of a Duke Stadtfeld, so she's well bred and practically _rolling_ in money. She's a little too sheltered for me. Then again, everyone has different tastes." He finished, looking for at least a small reaction from Lelouch.

Much as leading a rebellion took skill and strategy, it also took charisma, and Lelouch did by no means fall short on that front, as one of the many practises he'd taken up during his exile, was acting.

"Besides, we're a few council members short, so it'd be perfect for her to join, considering her poor constitution. I also overheard Millie talking about her the other day, so she might want her to join the council as well," He casually explained, grinning on the inside at Rivalz's almost downtrodden expression.

"Well, I'd better go ask her about joining, along with introducing her to the rest of the council, even if she chooses not to accept." Getting up, Lelouch packed the rest of the things on his desk into a small pile, before throwing them into his bag.

"If you could tell the rest of the council to meet in the clubhouse in five, that'd be great," He said, closing the distance between himself and the soon-to-be student council member.

"Sure," was Rivalz's only response, before Lelouch left to speak to Kallen.

"Miss Stadtfeld, I'd like to speak to you for a second," He said, completely ignoring the various oohs, aahs and occasional squee of the nearby females, which seemed to flock to Kallen like crows to dead meat.

"Oh, uh, ok," She responded calmly, getting from her seat to follow Lelouch.

' _Hmm, very suspicious._ ' She thought to herself, ' _he sounds almost exactly like Zero._ '

After they exited the class, Lelouch discreetly handed her a tiny slip of paper. The gesture could have been mistaken for a love letter, had it not been the size of a fingernail. On the letter, however, was nothing more than the designation _Q-1_ , with _Later_ written on the other side.

Kallen gasped slightly, her eyes widening, before she looked up into cold, piercing amethyst eyes, holding absolutely nothing. No emotion, and nothing to read. It almost unnerved Kallen how hard he was to read, as his face somehow managed to show even less than his eyes. Not even his body language gave anything off.

Quickly reverting to the mask he wore at school, Lelouch broke the tension with strangely cheery conversation.

"You know," He started, "Milly wants to take you into the student council, since you're not in any club, due to your health." He explained, still walking to the student council building.

"Can't I just stay out of any clubs?" She asked innocently, a slight pleading look in her eyes.

Lelouch simply closed his eyes and shook his head, before looking back at her apologetically. "Sorry," He began, "As many strings as I have, I can't exclude you from school policy." He explained, pushing the door of the building open, gesturing her to enter. "Besides, every action I take has an ulterior motive."

His words would have been mistaken for something entirely more lewd, had he not handed her the small piece of paper, practically screaming that he had something to do with Zero.

"I called for the others to meet to about five minutes ago, I hope you don't mind, it's better to know the people you'll be working with before you actually work with them." He said absentmindedly, as his thoughts slowly began drifting back to the war, and the struggle at the command centre, for not obeying his commands.

"Thank goodness, you found out lab data," Nina exclaimed, pulling Lelouch out of his reverie.

"Ah, everyone's almost here." Lelouch said, walking over to one of the tables that was filled with food. "Want some?" He asked, grabbing what seemed to be a mixture between sushi, kebab and calzone.

Noting Kallen's utterly confused expression at the choice of food, He quickly began to explain. "One of my sisters made it… she calls it calzushibab… it's actually surprisingly good." He finished, taking a bite of the mysterious concoction.

Breaking out of her stupor, Kallen quickly made her way over to the table and looked at some of the strange foods presented in front of her: There was the infamous calzushibab, something only referred to as 'don't eat me', and finally what could only be a mixture of cocoa and punch.

She gingerly picked up one of the calzushibabs, tenderly biting the edge of the strange concoction. He was right; it was surprisingly good.

While she was trying to comprehend why the mixture of food from Italy, Turkey and Japan seemed so good, the rest of the council had arrived.

"Hey, Shirley, could you help me with this?" An unknown girl asked. Kallen noticed the remorseful look some of the members gave her when she looked over at the crippled girl in front of her.

"Hello," She said, looking directly at her despite her eyes being closed, "You're new, are you Kallen?" She tentatively asked, tilting her head a little, an innocent and naïve smile on her face.

"Yeah," she responded, slightly confused as to why she had her eyes closed. Kallen was by no means stupid, however it was still weird and confusing that someone was in a wheelchair and had her eyes closed constantly. The only conclusion would be that she was blind.

Before she could continue, Lelouch spoke up. "That's Nunnally, one of my sisters." Lelouch explained, gently pulling Kallen over to greet her. He let go of Kallen, and slowly took his sister's hand. "Hello Nunna, I'd like you to meet our newest member, Kallen Stadtfeld." Taking the hint, Kallen quickly got down to Nunnally's height, and held out her hand, allowing Nunnally to grab it.

"It's nice to meet you." She said softly, meekly, as if she were docile.

Ever since she was blinded, Nunnally had the ability to tell whether someone was lying or not, not only that, but she also had the ability to see what the lie was, and how much of the truth was being told. She was by no means stupid however, so instead of calling Kallen on what was wrong, she tentatively leaned towards her ear, and whispered something that would scare Kallen to the bone, for at least a month. "You're not the real you, you wear a mask. Make sure you wear it better than that when you get caught by someone who doesn't support my brothers cause."

Kallen merely stood in shock at the young girls perceptiveness. Even without sight, she'd seen through Kallen's mask, like it was painted on using nothing but jet fuel and steel beams. Had she been on the other side, she'd be one of the most dangerous enemies she would have to face in the future.

"Hey, Let's celebrate Kallen's inauguration with a glass, shall we?" Rivalz asked, beginning to uncork a bottle of champagne, much to the horror of Shirley, who was far to innocent for such a thing as alcohol.

"Lelouch, catch!" Rival yelled, throwing the bottle to Lelouch, causing Shirley to chase Lelouch instead of Rivalz.

Being caught off guard by this action, he was quickly felled by Shirley who landed directly on top of him in a very lewd position, much to the joy of Milly, who instantly began taking pictures from as many possible angles as she could.

Unfortunately, the corked bottle in Lelouch's hand seemed to like the position it was in even less than Shirley or Lelouch, and decided to uncork itself.

The cork flew true, only to be swatted from the air by Kallen, this did not however shop the liquid that followed, as it gingerly flowed all over Kallen's head and body, soaking her clothes completely, allowing her undergarments to clearly be seen by Rivalz, Milly… and her camera.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Clubhouse shower, Ashford academy, May 14th.**

"I brought you some clean clothes," Lelouch exclaimed as he knocked on the door. As much as he'd taken advantage of the previous event, he didn't control the initial steps that lead to the situation, something the strategist in him seemed to highly dislike. ' _A true strategist doesn't use preset rules for his schemes, he creates the rules beforehand, and allows the entire plot to play out as though he were its puppet master._ '

"Come in, the curtain's drawn." Kallen responded.

Lelouch walked in with a large sigh, before laying the clothes down on the counter.

"Sorry about that, they can be a little wild sometimes."

"That was fast, did you go all the way to the boys dorm?" She asked, her lithe yet voluptuous figure clearly visible from the other side of the curtain.

"I actually live here, since it'd be hard for my sisters to live in the dorms. However that's not why I volunteered to get you clothes." He said, causing Kallen to pause for a moment before continuing to wash herself.

"Shinjuku?" She asked.

"Shinjuku," Was his simple response.

"So, I'm guessing you're Zero," she said, sounding a little disappointed.

"No, actually," He responded, causing Kallen to be extremely confused. So much so, that she pulled the curtain back, and allowed her confused expression to show on her face.

He chuckled a little, before continuing.

"While it is true that I lead you to victory in Shinjuku, and that I'm an excellent strategist, I am nothing but Zero's benefactor… amongst other things," He explained, leaning up against the counter her previously left the clothes on.

"Other things?" Kallen asked, having returned to her shower.

"Well, you've heard of Nihil, right?" He asked, turning his head towards the shower a little.

"Yeah, supposed to be some genius Knightmare designer for Kyoto," She guessed.

"Well, She and I work in the secret KMF production facility under the school. It is linked to a massive tunnel system frequently used by other resistance groups. That's how I get off campus to gamble, and how you'll be getting off campus to meet up with the rest of your group."

"Wait, wait, wait, Knightmare frame production facility?" Kallen questioned, far more confused by what Lelouch was telling her, than what he previously revealed.

Sighing a little, chuckling Lelouch decided to simply explain what he knew about the Ashfords' involvement with Knightmares. "Before the war, the Ashfords were well known for creating not only the Glasgow unit, but also the Ganymede, fastest damn Knightmare in the world, at least until the Lancelot showed up."

"That's the main reason I wanted you to join the student council. However, much like I said previously; everything I do has an ulterior motive. I want to show you our secret base and current technology level, both as a sign of trust, but also to let you have a good look at what's in store for your group, provided we join forces."

"… You say you're his benefactor, but how to you make enough money to create state of the art knightmares?"

"I mentioned how I get off school to gamble via the tunnel system, however, what I failed to mention, was just how much money I gamble with. The whole reason I got caught up in Shinjuku was because I was gambling in the break but I'll tell you about that later. Anyway, I usually put up anywhere between one and ten million, not only does this ensure my current mask of a duke's son but also that I am confident, arrogant, and extremely rich. So much so, that my current account balance is just over four billion pounds. Had I not launched the Zero-Network last year, it would have been over two hundred times what it is now."

Kallen coughed again, before responding in shock, "What the hell could cost eight hundred billion pounds?" She screamed.

Remaining calm, save the slight wincing due to the sheer volume of her shocked screeching, Lelouch slimed, and responded. "Oh, nothing, just twenty six geostationary satellites, each containing a supercomputer capable of one quadrillion teraflops per second, enough weapons to level a small country, with the monitoring equipment to see what a tadigrade looks like, and of course; a massive death laser. How do you think we found you so fast?"

Kallen was speechless.

"Well, I should get going, the longer we're both in here, the more lecherous Millie's thoughts are. She can be quite the pervert sometimes," Lelouch said, exiting the bathroom, allowing Kallen to finish her shower.

He was about to close the door, when he turned and looked back at her, "He'll be out of country for the next few weeks, but would very much like to speak with you and your group tomorrow, Be at Tokyo tower at five PM. I left a contact number in the clothes I brought you, in case you need to contact us again."

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Lobby, Tokyo Tower, May 15th.**

Tamaki Shinichirō was not a man to be crossed, He was arrogant, quick to aggression, excessively confident, bias towards himself, indecisive, naïve, and of course, stupid. Not only did this create an extremely volatile mixture, but it also lead to an extremely bad mix for an undercover agent. Something he was currently trying to be.

His currently _fuming_ cover was about as close to being blown as it could possibly be, when a Britannian school boy claimed to know Zero, the man they were supposed to be meeting with in the next few minutes.

It was however, a great shock to the group of resistance fighters, when the young boy greeted them in near flawless Japanese.

"Ohayō Gozaimasu, Watashi wa Lelouch Desu, Zero no benefakutā, (Good morning, I'm Lelouch, Zero's Benefactor)." **I apologise for my poor Japanese.**

Seeing as Kallen eagerly took his hand, shaking it a little harder than she maybe should have, the others followed, albeit, a little more hesitantly.

"Hold it!" Tamaki Yelled. "How do we know that you're not a spy?"

Lelouch almost expected this, since he'd seen the profiles of almost all the members in that particular resistance group. "Well, Tamaki Shinichirō, Reason one would be that this place isn't swarming with military personnel. Reason two would be that my hate for Britannia is even greater than yours; they killed my mother, crippled one of my sisters, took the arm and leg of the other, and had me in a coma for three months. Reason three would be that I have donated over a trillion pounds to this cause. Reason four is that, while I may not be Zero, I killed the same Britannians you did and lead you to victory while in Shinjuku. Finally; reason five is that I swore an oath." Offering nothing but facts, Lelouch continued, talking Tamaki directly into the dirt quite literally.

"If you hate me because of who I am, then join the club. The way I gain the money is not only frowned upon by society, but it is completely illegal. Had I not been hiding so well these past seven years, I would've been publically executed for, quite literally, gambling with peoples' lives. I've humiliated over two thousand nobles in various ways, be they from chess or blackmail, they always surrender, and I _always_ leave with my life, and enough money to buy a fresh batch of knightmares."

An action Lelouch had used more than once, be it on the battlefield or otherwise; was lying. One of the most important parts of lying, along with the most frequently used was either telling a part of the truth to conceal the fact that the main article of conversation was a lie. Another was to say something so ridiculous that it could be nothing but a lie, catching the person one's lying too of guard, allowing the true lie to pass as nothing more than the truth, merely under the guise of sarcasm.

Much like wearing masks, lying was something Lelouch had mastered over the years, so deciding to tell part of the truth was no big deal, as long as it concealed the rest of it under the cover of a lie, masquerading as the truth.

"Before we go any further, I'll apologise for this in advance; Zero won't be able to meet face-to-face, due to… unfortunate circumstances. As for what they are, I can't tell you, and you'll just have to deal with it."

Hoping that his logic has finally stopped Tamaki's pointless rambling, Lelouch began to walk towards the train. Unfortunately, He was not so lucky. "Wait, you brought us all this way for a telecommunication?" Tamaki yelled. This utterly shocked Lelouch, as not only was Tamaki foreign, but he'd missed out on schooling, since he was 17, due to the occupation. So how the hell did he know the word 'telecommunication'?

"If it's any consolation, he's only ever met with twelve people in the past, and that's including me, Nihil and the Kyoto group." Lelouch was again concealing the entirety of the truth with another, less significant part of it, allowing previously disclosed information to cover up the fact that he was lying. Zero had, of course, met with both Nihil and the Kyoto group, only, at the time, it was Lelouch who hiding beneath the faceless mask of Zero.

"Anyway," He said, pulling open the door of a nearby limousine. "We'll be speaking in here."

Silence.

"It's a good trait; skepticism. However, if you hesitate too long, you can't foresee the consequences of your actions. Had you remained moving, a sniper would only have had a six point three second window to execute you, from the time of us exiting the building to entering the limo, however with you just standing there, a sniper could have picked off three of us and relocated before you'd even notice him."

Needless to say, the group of four rushed into the limo as fast as they could.

"Well, they could have, anyway, if it wasn't for the extremely well developed cloaking system co-developed by Nihil and I. Currently, we are completely invisible."

"Wait a second, You're saying that we're in a limousine, capable of bending light to create the illusion of invisibility?" Kallen asked, Her shock now turned to skepticism.

"Not only that, but it also masks sound and smell," Lelouch casually explained.

"Bullshit," was Tamaki's indignant response.

"Nope, Look," He said, pulling out what seemed to be a black, high tech looking glove.

He gingerly put it on, plugged a wire into it, and pressed a button on the top of the glove.

The glove slowly began to disappear from sight. while the masking wasn't perfect, the distortion it left could easily be attributed to one's brain playing tricks on itself.

"If you're wondering about the distortion, then don't worry, this is only the beta version, the version on the car is complete and masks our presence almost entirely. It's even covered in sound absorbing material, so nothing short of a factsphere will actually detect it, even then it'll just be a distortion. Unfortunately, it takes a hell of a lot of power, and will flatten a standard energy filler in barely five minutes."

Deactivating the glove, Lelouch allowed his hand into the visual spectrum once again.

"I really need to stop digressing," Lelouch mused, chuckling at whatever joke was currently playing in his twisted brain.

"Weren't we going to meet with Zero?" Ohgi asked, slightly frustrated, though also impressed by the young teens antics.

"Ah yes, that we were," Lelouch mumbled, reaching over to one of the many cabinets in the Limo, before pulling out a wine bottle, along with a set of five glasses and a wireless keyboard.

"Please, have some, I need to make sure the connection's secure," He said, beginning to type into the aforementioned keyboard, allowing a mechanical to flip a TV screen around, facing Lelouch as he typed.

Despite having known Lelouch for years now, Kallen still didn't trust him fully. Yes, he'd given _plenty_ vital information, which could not only lead to his arrest and subsequent execution, but also the same fate for his beloved family. And Yes, he'd revealed way more than he had to, pointing out flaws in their plans, responses, but also stating the strong points and whether or not to use said strong points. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't just have them silently removed, besides, He was completely impossible to read, who's to say that the wine wasn't poisoned.

"Relax, if I was going to kill you, I'd just invert the nerve responses currently going through your spines. Not only can tachyons bent light, but they can also invert the vectors of any known object, provided there are enough of them. Besides, poison would be one of the last ways I'd kill somebody, it's just so disappointing, scrambling your brainwaves with electro magnetism, on the other hand, now _that_ gives some interesting results." The rest of the group either blanched, or paled at that.

"The line's secure, it'll establish contact by itself," He said, reaching for the wine bottle.

Seeing as he seemed to trust his own body with whatever nonexistent poison he put in the inoculating drink, they all eagerly took to his footsteps. It'd been far too long since they'd tasted a good vintage, hell, Ohgi and Yoshida were the only ones that were old enough to drink before the invasion had started.

The best alcoholic drink they'd had previously, paled in comparison to what they'd just poured down their throats.

"Damn," Ohgi exclaimed, "This has got to be the best vintage I've ever had the pleasure of tasting."

"Agreed," Yoshida responded, sighing happily at the lingering flavor.

"Quinta do Vale Meão Douro, ranked fourth best wine in the world, by none other than the late prince Clovis himself. As much of a pompous fool that disgusting creature was, He sure did have an acute taste for the finer things one can acquire in life," Lelouch explained, much to the shock of everyone present.

"What, I played chess against him quite a few times. Forty million pounds, a _lot_ of valuable information and a barrel of what you're currently drinking. Well worth the five hundred _K_ I shaved off for it."

"You played against Clovis and won?" Yoshida asked incredulously.

"Yes, despite what you may think, other people simply play themselves down in fear of what the prince might do to them, provided they actually win, the man is as pathetic a strategist as he is a… a… I honestly can't think of anything he's worse at…" Lelouch exclaimed, completely in shock at his recent discovery. "hell, his Arabic is better than he tactics he pulled in Shinjuku."

"As Humorous as ever, Lelouch," an unknown voice responded, much to the shock of the others.

"I believe greeting are in order, My name is Zero," the TV sounded, the figure on it bowing proudly at the group before it.

"So, you're Zero?" Kallen asked, a little confused at the masked man's presence.

"if you're wondering why I'm not showing my face, it is simply because I am not currently at liberty to do so."

"is it because of the so called, personal reasons, Lelouch previously mentioned?" Kallen asked.

"Indeed, however, the rendering you're currently looking at, is how I'll be presenting myself to you in the near future. As for the issue with Kururugi Suzaku, I don't believe I need to elaborate any further than saying that, if he is executed, it'll give the military a _very_ solid reason to remove the honorary Britannian system, kicking what few Japanese that have been allowed to live within the settlement, out."

The entire limousine was in an uproar, as the barely concealed truth about the Britannians was, once again, revealed. The image on the TV shifted, showing Zero holding up his hand before the group.

"Since I'm currently indisposed, Lelouch here, will be filling the Role of Zero, in my plan to free Kururugi Suzaku."

* * *

 **Well, That's that. I was initially going to write the Kururugi release in this chapter, however I am having serious trouble with writing it, so here's chapter 3.**


	4. Chapter 4 The corruption of power

**Well, here it is, chapter 4. I hope you like plot twists.**

 **RANT:**

 **Well, shit, I have been writing this while on holiday, driving from Denmark, down through Holland, and up to England, 10 points to whoever can guess what I forgot.**

 **I was just recently rejected from going into England, and now I have to drive back to the place I stayed yesterday and wait for the office to open, so I can get temporary documents. In other news, fuck my life.**

 **Enjoy:**

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Old Ashford KMF production facility, under Ashford academy, May 15th.**

Hard rock blared through the underground speakers, as Ruby twisted the final screw for the first Zero body, bobbing her head and humming along all the while.

"Alright. Zero, Try to move the left ring finger, it should be working now."

"Got it," the laptop next to her responded.

Thankfully, the finger finally moved. She had been having the same problem with the silicone layers in the muscle fibres not connecting properly for hours now, so it was a relief when the damn thing finally worked to its specifications.

"Woot," She cried, bringing her hand up for a high five. As much as this was a small gesture of success, it was also a test to see whether the AI actually had full control over the current body it was supposed to inhabit until the rebellion was over. Nothing seemed to be amiss, as the extremely advanced android effortlessly returned the gesture, delivering a near perfect high five.

"Ok," Ruby started, wiping a little oil off her forehead, "I'm going to unlock fill motor control and the speech system now, so get the stabilization matrix up and running, and make sure to calibrate it to external battery mode, The reactor doesn't have any antimatter or sakuradite in it at the moment."

"Sure, but you really don't have to tell me everything, I _have_ been paying attention to your work, you know. Speaking of which, the factsphere release mechanism might need tightening; one of the screws is getting in the way of the extension release lock."

"That can be dealt with later. Anyway, Are you ready?" Ruby's hand was, quite literally, hovering over a large red button. Contrary to popular belief, this button did not initiate a self-destruct sequence. Instead, it simply allowed power to flow from the battery attached to Unit-01's back, into the body of Unit-01, which was currently being controlled by the AI known only as Zero. The actual self-destruct button was hidden very well, and in a different country. It was also disguised as a banana.

Ruby pressed the button, and Zero's body twitched slightly, before tentatively taking a step forward.

It looked towards Ruby, and a massive grin formed on her face.

Despite not being able to feel any of its limbs, Zero quickly took to understanding the vague sensory input and exact coordinates of its various artificial muscle strands, allowing it to walk fairly easily.

This didn't allow it to instantly perform martial arts moves, however, since it needed a nerve response system, which was unfortunately not in the trio's reach, as the only person who actually managed to design one was currently stuck in India. Though Lelouch had probably sent an extraction boat to pick her up, since they'd already located her, thanks to Z-N-4 the Zero-Network uplink satellite number 4, which was designed to be in geostationary orbit over Japan, or area 11, as Britannians knew it.

"Well, you can walk around perfectly fine," Ruby noted, as the android took several steps around the large Knightmare assembly warehouse.

Just then, the door opened, and in came Lelouch.

"Oh hey Ruby, Zero." He nodded towards the two, before walking over to one of the corners of the room, picking up what seemed to be a set of straps, tubes, pistons, and rotors, along with a small metal circlet.

"Ah yes, the EXO-frame. I completed it a few hours ago; all it needs is a calibration and it should be good to go. I admit that it's a little bulky, but it does the job, and I need some more sakuradite to complete a more discreet version."

Lelouch nodded before hugging her tightly. "Thank you for this. I… I really appreciate it. And I think you should be there when she puts it on."

She smiled, though it was not her insane smile, as it usually was when talking about her latest crazy invention. Instead, this smile was genuine, and gentle, one she only wore when thinking of the Lamperuge siblings.

"Shall we, then?" She asked.

They were about to leave when Zero called out to them.

"Before you go, I think you should know that I looked at the personnel files of the people leading the Kururugi parade tonight. We'll talk about it in detail later, but I think you should consider recruiting Jeremiah Gottwald, he's a skilled Knightmare pilot, and is almost fanatically loyal to your bloodline. He also considers himself personally responsible for the deaths of you and your mother."

"Hmm, interesting," Lelouch mused, before waving back to Zero, and entering the elevator that would bring them topside.

Zero simply continued walking around, getting used to his new range of movement.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Student council clubhouse, Ashford academy, May 15th.**

Nunnally was a girl with special needs, much like many people with the specific disabilities she possessed. Many people, however, didn't have a brother and sister, whom were quite literally willing to die on her behalf. Be it sacrificial or otherwise. Her brother quite often risked his life to gain enough funds for both Nunnally's medicine, and his and Ruby's side projects.

She honestly never really knew what the two of them were working on, so she honestly couldn't be happier when she felt the high quality steel and straps of what seemed to be a pair of robotic legs with straps designed to perfectly fit to her own, allowing her to walk as soon as it was calibrated.

The two of them had explained how they'd been working on this for the past year, both of them having to advance different technologies to be capable of lifting even her petite frame without being extremely bulky. Ruby mainly worked on the mechanical parts, while Lelouch worked on the interface mechanism, allowing her to control her legs with naught but a thought.

When the two of them presented the masterpiece to her, she actually began crying with joy.

"T-thank you so much, I was so worried that you two were doing something dangerous. But all this time, you were just making this for me. I-I just love you two so much." With that, she quite literally jumped out of her wheelchair and hugged the two of them as hard as she possibly could. Though her body was as slim as Lelouch, she still had a grip that was firm enough to make the two of them stumble.

"Please Brother, can I try it on?" Nunnally asked, still smothering the two siblings in her love for them. "It needs a test run and some calibration before you can walk around in it, and there's plenty of time before I have to go out, so I don't see why not?"

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

After the initial tests to see whether the device fit, and where it needed adjusting, all that was later required was a short test to see if all the parts were working correctly.

"Ok," Lelouch started, calibrating the small circlet that Nunnally was wearing. "First things first, I need to make sure that it's picking up the right thought patterns. Try and lift your right leg."

"Ok, brother." Nunnally whispered, holding Ruby's hand all the while.

After several minutes of nothing, and various grunts of acknowledgement from her brother, Nunnally's leg finally lift itself off the wheelchair, and straight up into the air, followed by a short 'whoop' from Lelouch.

"Ok, relax your leg… Excellent. Calibration complete," Lelouch exclaimed, as he shut a small port on the back of the circlet.

He rushed to the other side of Nunnally, and eagerly grasped her hand.

"Are you ready?" He asked, smiling, squeezing her hand a little to comfort her.

"Yes." She whispered, afraid to let go of their hands in case they disappeared, as if all this was just a fever dream.

Irrational as the though may be, she still feared that Ruby and Lelouch would suddenly disappear, and this would simply turn out another nightmare. She'd often dreamed of walking again, and every time it had become a living hell until she woke up.

She'd also often suggested that she get an operation similar to Lelouch, allowing her to finally walk on her own legs again, however it had been shot down by Lelouch a couple of times, since she wasn't quite strong enough to recover from the procedure. It might make her current state even worse, unless they could find a solution to why she was actually crippled. Yes, she'd been shot in the legs, but the damage she suffered was a lot less than what would normally restrict anyone's legs permanently.

Though Lelouch believed that something involving geass was afoot.

He was by no means a perfect being, but he was very good at thinking outside the box, finding solutions to problems that no-one else would think of, be they more or less efficient. It was usually the former, as he'd always though that way, be it in chess or otherwise.

"Here we go. Remember, slowly," Ruby said, pulling on Nunnally's arm a little.

Slowly, the motors of the EXO-frame attached to Nunnally's legs began to whir. Lelouch and Ruby were of course helping her up, but she could still feel the gentle vibrations through her legs, signifying that they weren't the only ones that were truly lifting her body.

When she finally stood, she began to cry again, though she quickly wiped away her tears, smiling one of the widest and genuine smiles she'd ever given.

Even though she wasn't walking on her own, it was still more movement than she'd done in years.

And finally, she actually jumped straight into their arms and hugged the two of them until she couldn't hold herself up any longer, and when she couldn't hold herself, she simply stood on her own two legs, hugging them harder than she though possible.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Kururugi parade grounds, Bridge, May 15th.**

Jeremiah Gottwald was not only a honourable man, but also an excellent pilot, a skilled soldier, and a man whom held loyalty above all else. He'd graduated at the top of his class from the imperial Colchester University, served in an empress's guard, and even joined the purist faction, one of the most fanatical among the entire imperial military force. It was also one of the hardest to actually get into, as they accepted only the best of the best. He'd eventually ascended to leader of the group, not by his status of a margrave, nor his connections among the nobility, but instead it was by merit alone. Something he held above all but his loyalty to the Vi Britannia bloodline.

For once, however, he'd let the merit of this operation blind him to the possible consequences it could bring. Kewell Soresi, Viletta Nu, and himself had decided to convict an innocent man for the murder of the 3rd prince. This action, while in itself fulfilling, would not only help the purists take over and fill the power vacuum, giving them full control of the area, but it would also allow them to abolish the honorary Britannian system, something they'd been pushing for, for a while now.

Amongst the purists' many beliefs, lay the inescapable 'law' that only true blooded Britannians were to serve in the military. Jeremiah initially didn't really follow through with this belief, as he'd known that the exiled prince and princess were treated well where they were staying, however that quickly changed when the emperor himself had declared that they were killed by the prime minister. He'd used that along with the growing tensions between the two nations as an excuse to invade.

The newly commissioned fourth generation of Knightmare frames had only helped in the quick defeat suffered by the Japan, and the subsequent enslavement of its people.

Even now, as he was leading the so-called precession down a highway road in the middle of Tokyo, he still felt disgust for the _elevens_ that had brutally slaughtered the children of the empress Marianne, and then casually surrendered like they'd merely stolen some candy, believing that they could give it back without even a slap on the wrist. They'd payed dearly for that belief.

His musings were cut short, however, as the radio flared, giving warnings of an incoming vehicle. When Jeremiah asked about it; he was stunned. It was prince Clovis' personal transport; personally, he considered it one of the most horrifically garish vehicles among the entire imperial family. At least the bastardisation of a limousine and public address podium wasn't pink.

"You dare defile his highness's transport? Come out you filthy eleven!" As much as he meant the second half of his statement, nothing could wash away the bad taste he got from not saying the damn transport was defiling his eyes.

As soon as he said that, the Britannian flag that was proudly hung at the top of the vehicle, burst into flames. Within 0.8 seconds, the entire flag was ash, small embers floating down to the ground and a terrifying figure stepped forward; addressing the entire crowd, though his attention was obviously focused on the military, despite the avian like mask which hid his features from both the aforementioned military and the various news choppers, each of them competing for the best angle, all of them trying to get higher ratings than the next.

"I AM… ZERO!" The figure shouted, its voice distorted beyond recognition. It wasn't immediately clear, but upon closer inspection, there were several voices, male and female, child and adult. This only added to the mystery that was Zero.

Though he was a little intimidated, like many of both the military and the general pubic, he quickly regained his composure. He intended to give a real show to the massive audience, though he didn't know that, that was exactly what the figure standing before him wanted.

"I've seen enough, Zero. This charade is over!" He shot his sidearm into the air, giving a signal to the nearby VTOLs, all of which quickly got into position and dropped four Sutherland knightmares around the masked man.

"Now, remove that mask," The margrave spat, angrily pointing his own gun at the figure opposed to himself, despite the four knightmares surrounding him, all of which held anti tank rounds in their guns.

This was exactly what Zero wanted, as he reached his fingers up to caress the violet orb of the mask, only to raise his hand in a flash, snapping his fingers at the apex of his arm's movement. Instantly, the five surrounding panes of the vehicle burst open, revealing the poison gas container the military had been looking for so fervently.

"Lord Gottwald, that's the-" "I know," Jeremiah spat, as he lowered his gun. "What are your terms?" The words felt like spoiled milk, as he said them, asking the question that was on almost all the military's tongues that moment.

"Simple," Zero responded, "This," he gestured towards the container of so-called poison gas, "for Kururugi."

Instantly, the crowd was in uproar. Say what you will about the people, but the death of an imperial family member always drew out heavy emotion, while most were screaming for Suzaku's head, many of the Japanese were cheering zero on, mainly for doing what they hadn't the stomach for, but also because he was actually getting somewhere, and wasn't just shot down on the spot.

"Never, This man is charged with regicide for murdering our beloved prince Clovis," Jeremiah shouted, the 'audience' cheering him on all the while.

"Oh?" Zero started, crossing his arms below his cape, "That's strange; I don't remember him being there when I personally decapitated him in the throne he sat upon while ordering the deaths of countless innocents." At the moment the last word exited his lips, the loudspeakers of all the knightmares around the area instantly flared up with Clovis' declaration.

 **="I Clovis La Britannia hereby order the destruction of the Shinjuku ghetto. Liquidate the people, be they terrorists or otherwise, leave no-one alive."=**

Instantly the crowd stopped cheering. Even though they were barely above mindless slaves in the eyes of the populate, they were still humans.

"It wasn't until I, personally, shoved a gun to his face, that he ordered the cease fire." Again, the loudspeakers blared.

 **="What do you want?"**

 **"What I want is a cease fire order, broadcast to all troops currently in Shinjuku. Well, at least the ones I left alive,"**

 **"Y-you were the one commanding the-"**

 **"Cease fire, now." The soldier ordered.**

 **"Very well. I, Clovis la Britannia, hereby command you, all of you, cease fire at once, Treat all injured whether Britannian or eleven. All burials shall be treated equally and without prejudice. I shall allow no further fighting. Satisfied?"**

 **"Very."=**

"While I was in the command centre of the G-1 mobile base, I spoke to the prince a little. More specifically, I asked how he could justify such a massacre…"

The crowd was silent as they all tentatively listened.

"Do you want to know what his answer was?" He asked, urging the margrave to answer, though he interrupted beforehand, again pressing the button that initiated the recording device.

 **="However you still have to atone for your sins… Tell me, why would such an upstanding gentleman such as yourself issue this order?"**

 ** _"I Clovis La Britannia hereby order the destruction of the Shinjuku ghetto. Liquidate the people, be they terrorists or otherwise, leave no-one alive."_**

 **"T-they stole poison g-gas fro-"**

 ** _Thwack_**

 **"No, what they stole was a canister that held nothing but a little girl, no older than 16. She was not only held against her will, but was, in fact, experimented on by your very own staff. You simply wanted to retrieve what you lost, so tell me, does that justify the loss of… Thank you, Six thousand four hundred and seventeen lives? Not counting the injured that will inevitably die."**

 **"T-They were only elevens."=**

"So, tell me, Britannians and Japanese alike, do you truly wish such people to be you betters?" At that question, almost the entire nation shouted in the negative.

"Now, some of you may be thinking that he was one among many, perhaps a black sheep." Instantly, he had control of the crowds again. They were completely silent, almost all of them eagerly waiting a response.

No one had actually noticed, but the person whom stood there was not actually Zero. Instead, it was a basic full body EXO-frame attached to a clothes dummy. In reality, Lelouch was using the advanced cloaking features of his Zero outfit to sneak around the precession, slowly making his way up to where Suzaku was kneeling.

"Of course, there are some whom are better than others, such as the third princess. But then again, there are always two sides to a coin, take prince Schneizel, for example."

 **="I don't care about civilian casualties. Bombard the area if you have to, as long as this terrorist faction is eliminated, we can blame it on them. No-one listens to the numbers anyway."=**

"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO SLANDER THE ROYAL FAMILY ANY LONGER!" Jeremiah shouted. Raising his gun to Zero's head. "Prepare to die!"

And with that, he shot Zero straight in the forehead.

However he kept on moving like nothing happened, lifting his hands to the mask he was wearing, and removed it.

Almost everyone stared slack-jawed at the shop dummy that wore the outfit of Zero.

At that very moment, however, the canister began its release procedure. However, what came out was only confetti, a truly astonishing amount, yes, but nothing else.

Shocking the public again was none other than Zero, as he held an unconscious Suzaku around the waist, a cable attached to his fist, the other end attached to what seemed to be a VTOL, though it was completely silent.

"May the day we meet on the battlefield be glorious, oh great and noble Britannia." The sarcasm was palpable.

And then the jet roared, and they were taken away from the precession.

However the dummy still had more to say.

"Before I truly go, I'd like to fulfil a promise I made to the late prince… for what is a man if he does not fulfil a dying man's last wish"

 **="I've heard enough," The voice became a little clearer as Zero gave his verdict. "I am Zero, and as much as I hate taking a life, this man is not innocent, he has been judged by me, and the innocent lives he has taken, and has been sentenced to death… by beheading."**

 **"Do you have any last words, perhaps for your family?"**

 **"Y-y-y-yes, Brothers, sisters, Farther, Mother, I-I-I-I am truly sorry for what I have done. M-may fate be kinder to you, t-t-than it was to me. Please C.C. forgive me for your torture. At least I'll see Lelouch and Nunnally again."**

 **"I will make sure they get your message."**

 ** _Shunk, slice, splat. =_**

Then the dummy exploded, the distinctive sparks of thermite visible through the melted plastic, truly leaving no trace, DNA or otherwise.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. On-board VTOL, unknown location, may 15th.**

"So, I see that you're awake. How are you feeling?" Lelouch asked, his mask still held firmly on his head.

"Ugh, like I was hit by a truck… Wait." He jumped back, only to be stopped by a seatbelt. He looked around and saw what appeared to be a luxury airplane.

"H-how'd I get here." He stuttered, retaining no memory of the stealthy injection Lelouch had given him, while he used the cloak system of the Zero outfit.

"We rescued you," He said, leaning back into his seat, gesturing towards Kallen and Ruby, both of which wore masks. Though Ruby was surprisingly calm, considering her mania, and the fact that she was a complete sociopath towards anyone and anything that she wasn't personally responsible for, such as her many inventions, or children, as she and Rakshata used to call them, whenever they exchanged information.

"So, did you really kill prince Clovis?" Suzaku asked, grimacing a little at his own words.

"Yes, and as much as I hate taking life, I'd gladly do so again, besides, he was an enemy commander; the head of the snake, so-to-speak," He calmly replied.

"That still doesn't justify killing him, even if he ordered the death of innocents." Suzaku really did have a twisted sense of logic and morals.

"Oh? Well then, do you think that an order from a superior officer justifies liquidating an entire district?" Lelouch asked again.

Suzaku was silent.

"So, while we're here, on this plane, nice and secure, 6 kilometres above the Pacific Ocean, would you mind telling me what your goals are for joining the military?"

"I… I must become the knight of one, then I will take governance over area eleven, and the people will be treated equally."

"You really are an idiot," Zero replied, sighing, before grabbing a bottle and two glasses out of a side cabinet.

"Before we go any further, what about the rest of the areas? You seek to change one nation of soon eighteen different ones, whereas I seek to change them all, so your plan is flawed from the start, but let's forget that for the moment," Zero Mused.

"Secondly, let's ignore the fact that non-Britannians aren't allowed to gain any position of power at all, much less being a knight. So, say you're a genuine Britannian, no number blood in you veins, but before that, we need to look at the accomplishments you must complete before even being considered." Zero sighed, "It's a long list," He explained, pulling out a small booklet, before filling the two glasses with what seemed to be very high quality champagne.

"First of all, to even join the knights of the round, you must be able to follow any order given by the emperor, be it killing, genocide, or what have you. Secondly, your military accomplishments must be substantial, for example, Lord Gino Weinberg helped conquer what is now area 17, this earned him a candidacy. Lady Alstreim single-handedly quelled an almost successful rebellion in area 7, using nothing but her Gloucester. Yes, I know you're the pilot of the Lancelot, and I must say that your piloting skills are very impressive." Suzaku seemed to stutter briefly, only to realise that whomever was behind the mask of Zero, certainly did their homework.

"Nihil over there hacked into Lloyds surveillance system the other day," Lelouch offered, gesturing over to the masked figure on the right, which now seemed to be waving her hand around the air, despite there being nothing there.

Suzaku looked a little startled at the display the petite woman was showing, though Zero just waved it off, it was probably quite normal for whomever the woman actually was, and considering what he remembered from the daring attempt to rescue him, Zero probably wasn't the only person in their group who had issues, after all, what could come from terrorism?

He sighed again, before pulling a straw out of the nearby side panel, shoving it into a small hole in his mask. Presumably, it lead to his mouth, considering the slurping sound that now came through the masked vigilante's voice changer. "Damn, this is good… anyway, I'm digressing, what I'm trying to say is, you have to go against your own morals to prevent others from experiencing the same. More specifically, you'll have to kill because somebody says so, not because they deserve it, simply to create equality for 110 million people, and half of them don't even want it. What I seek to do is far simpler; kill the emperor, and make sure somebody like Lelouch or Euphemia takes the throne. Hell, Lelouch would probably help pull some strings for you, provided you help him take said throne."

It took a while, but Suzaku finally spoke, "Any ends gained through contemptible means aren't worth anything," He naïvely spat, finally accepting the drink.

"So killing people under orders isn't contemptible, while killing people because they dropped bombs on your friends and family is?" Zero asked, his tightly controlled patience wearing thin.

Suzaku was silent again, until Zero continued.

"You know, during the invasion, my sister's left arm and leg were torn off by the same bombs you and I suffered. You call our means contemptible, yet Britannia is the nation that, quite literally, tears family apart. I myself was injured, albeit after the invasion. I was walking through the ghettos one day, when an extremely polite Knightmare pilot decided that he didn't like my spine. Thankfully, of the three HE anti tank rounds that were fired, only one hit me. It paralysed me from the neck down, and it's only thanks to my sister's cybernetics project that I can even walk."

"Still, be that as it is, I must honour my father's sacrifice, and change this nation from within." He replied, despite the clear disgust in his voice.

"Oh? The same father you killed?" He asked, causing an utterly shocked look to appear on Suzaku's face.

Meekly, he replied, "H-how-"

"So I was right," He sighed, "believe me when I say that I know where you're coming from, I too killed someone to cause less bloodshed, despite the long term repercussions that would occur. You see, when japan surrendered, most of its military might was left in tact, said military later became a number of different resistance groups, most prominently, the JLF. The same thing happened to me; I killed a man to prevent another from dying, it was only a year later that I found out that the bastard was running a slave trade." The contempt in Zero's voice was obvious.

He took another sip. "So, just to recollect, you want a japan with equal rights, yet you refuse to support its best chance, despite it being the most pacifistic way to achieve it. _Even with war, do we aid Britannia. Keeping the blood flowing is quite literally the only thing that is keeping Britannia from going down as a nation._ That's something the second prince said to me. And he's right; without the military, this nation would fall within six months."

"Someone like Lelouch, you say…" Suzaku mumbled, finally breaking the silence that had overtaken the passenger section of the small VTOL jet.

"Indeed, if someone like Lelouch takes the throne, then this nation might just have a chance to be saved. Besides, you two can do anything together."

Suzaku looks shocked for a moment, there were few people who knew about that, and fewer still who remembered.

"Then I will find and support him, and let _him_ take the throne." Suzaku said, pulling on his seatbelt, before realising that the seatbelts wouldn't come off, most likely only when Zero wanted them to, or unless they landed.

"Before you go looking for him, tell me one thing. How far will you go for him?" Zero asked, leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table between the two.

"As far as I must," he replied, equally as serious.

"Excellent answer," He replied, leaning back into the seat, his serious attitude now replaced with a much more blasé one.

"Huh?"

"Your search has ended, then," And with that, Lelouch pulled off the mask of Zero, leaving Suzaku gaping like a fish.

"All but one thing I've said on this plane has been true" Lelouch said, casually sipping his drink.

"And what was that?" Suzaku asked, narrowing his eyes in distrust.

"That we're over the pacific. We're actually above the Fuji mines, testing our latest iteration of our stealth system. Would you like some cupcakes?"

Silence.

"Before I join you, what are your plans?" Suzaku asked, a new determination burning in his eyes.

"After we nick Lloyd, Cecile and the Lancelot, and extract Rakshata Chawla, We'll be doing night time raids on the local drug rings and slave traders. Basically, we'll be doing what the police units are bribed not to. After that, We wait for the next viceroy to commit an atrocious act, so we can show how we fight for the innocents, and don't just lash out for prejudice's sake," Lelouch mused, handing Suzaku a pair of what seemed like normal glasses.

"Glasses? Lelouch, my eyesight is perfect," Suzaku argued.

"As is mine, but our holographic technology is still in the theoretical realm, so haptic interfaces will have to do." He slid his own glasses onto his nose.

 _'At least they're not hippy glasses,'_ Suzaku thought.

"Anyway, allow my to introduce my second in command, sister in all but blood, and head of the R&D team: Ruby Rose, also known as Nihil, one of the best scientists on the planet. She's the one who designs, tests, and produces most of our hardware. The haptic glasses will show you some more details."

Ruby removed her headgear, showing the face of a beautiful face of a 17 year-old girl, her features were a mix of Britannian and Asian, with stunning, silver eyes, which were quite literally staring into his soul.

With barely a twitch, she fired a small rope-dart at Suzaku, before even he could remove it, it took a blood sample, analysed it, and delivered a powerful antitoxin for radiation poisoning, something he was going to need if he was going to witness the construction of the absolution MK.1. Naturally Suzaku had questions.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, rubbing his arm slightly, as the seatbelts were still engaged.

"I collected a blood sample for analysis, you might be allergic to zeta radiation, I also injected you with an antitoxin for antimatter explosion fumes," Ruby explained.

Though he'd never heard of zeta radiation, despite not finishing physics, he _had_ heard of antimatter, along with its theoretical dangers.

"So your saying that Britannia's methods are contemptible, when you use antimatter weaponry?" He seethed, obviously attempting to stand, despite the futility.

"We don't use antimatter technology to make out explosions bigger, Suzaku, we use it to make the armaments smaller, while the explosions remain relatively similar, in size, but with a finality that rivals nothing else. In other words; we have darts that vaporise anything in a ten metre radius, along with handguns that can wipe out op to two hundred nightmares, provided they are perfect hits."

Suzaku calmed a little at that, though he still remained sceptical.

"Next up, we have Kallen Kōzuki, a Knightmare pilot on par with yourself, She also shows promise in tactical decisions and special ops."

Unlike Ruby, all she did was wave; she'd quite literally been staring down a full lance of Knightmare frames, and the adrenaline that had been flooding her nervous system had worn off shortly before Suzaku woke.

Suzaku extended his hand, and both of them shook it, though Kallen held onto it quite firmly, and leant forward, whispering. "I still don't trust you, nor do I trust Lelouch, and if you hurt any of my friends, I _will_ kill you."

"I understand."

"Anyway, now that the tense atmosphere's clearly diminished; how'd you like to see Nunnally again, after all, it has been a while."

"But what about my court martial?" Suzaku questioned.

"I'll have one of my lower tier members leak that you refused to join me, and we have you in custody, trying to convince you or something. We'll think of this more, later."

"Thank you," Suzaku mused.

"Anyway, I've sent Ohgi the coordinates for the Ashford base, so he and his group should be meeting us there. It's not our biggest base, but it's where we keep most of our R&D, so after you've met with the other members, perhaps Ruby can walk you through some of the things we've been working on. Besides, I'm pretty sure Nunnally's dying to see you again you."

"But won't she figure out your Zero?" He asked, a little hesitant.

"Hehe, I forgot to tell you about that, but I'm not actually Zero, I'm the co-commander of the black knights, Zero's strategic advisor, and his benefactor, but before you ask, we consider any and every action we take together, and _always_ make joined decisions, thanks to the spinal implant I have. Besides, Nunnally's a lot smarter than she looks, and probably already knows that I have something to do with it. Oh and, go easy on her, Ruby and I just finished her EXO-frame, so she's still practicing to walk properly, just make sure she doesn't go jumping around the room, will you?"

The two of them shared a laugh, before Lelouch continued.

"I'm not going to show you the full scope of our current resources right away, as I still need to make sure you won't betray my trust. Believe me, I know how stubborn you can be, and how that if I make major mistakes, you'll either try to correct my path, or you'll simply go back to the empire, but know this; Innocents _will_ get in the way, and I'll do my best not to harm them in any way, but that doesn't mean they won't get caught in the crossfire." Lelouch sighed, before looking back up to Suzaku.

"I'm truly sorry about revealing you, and tearing your logic apart like that, but it was necessary at the time, and I only hope that you'll forgive me, and that our friendship's still as strong as it was seven years ago." Lelouch looked down, before pouring another cup of champagne, actually taking a sip this time, rather than just slurping the liquid through a straw.

Suzaku looked a little betrayed, before his face softened. "I… I forgive you," He said, leaning back in his chair, as he closed his eyes, sighing. "So, now you have two ace pilots, and no machines for us to pilot," Suzaku mused, sighing as that revelation actually hit him.

Though, at that moment, Nihil, or Ruby, as Suzaku now knew her, giggled cutely.

"Actually, you're wrong on both accounts, we have four ace pilots; you, Kallen, Zero and myself. And while we may lack the advanced Knightmares that we desire, we still have two, we're about to steal another, and I'm quite confident that we'll be getting another when we reveal ourselves properly, and gain Kyoto's support, we don't need the money, we just want the Guren Nishiki," Ruby elaborated, counting each point on her fingers, as she smiled giddily when she mentioned the two KMFs they already had.

"In total, we have three seventh gen frames, piloted by Zero, Lelouch and myself. We have another twelve upgraded Sutherlands, two Gloucesters, and the seventeen Sutherlands we held onto after the Shinjuku incident. Oh and, all three of the seventh gen frames are made by Lelouch and I, with a little help from Zero," Ruby mused, still counting points on her fingers, though she'd started using her feet now, being insane really explains some of her strange personality quirks.

"Anyway, I think it's about time to get back to our Ashford base, so we can plan the raid on the ASEEC. It's about time we get access to the Asplund's toys, as he never keeps any of his blueprints on his computers."

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Old Ashford KMF production facility, under Ashford academy, May 15th.**

Lelouch, on what had now been confirmed to be an advanced stealth VTOL, developed entirely be Ruby, had said that he wouldn't show him the full scope of the operation, since he wasn't quite sure about his loyalty.

Despite this, what he was currently seeing caused his normally focussed green orbs to widen to the point of almost falling out of his skull.

Suzaku wasn't usually a suspicious man, but he simply _had_ to ask Lelouch where he'd gotten all this equipment. Of course, since they'd been friends for a very long time, he'd easily spilled the beans. The money had come from a mix between high stakes gambling, and fiddling with bank numbers, of course, the first part was considered illegal, yet the second was grounds for execution. When he'd brought this up with Lelouch, He'd simply shrugged, and said that the OSI had been trying to kill him for three years, until he finally cleared his tracks, after which, he'd escaped a number of different arrests. He'd then followed up with a statement that made Suzaku reconsider the idea that Lelouch had truly erased all traces of his arrogance. He had, quite literally said, "They've been trying to kill me for a majority of my life, and they can keep trying for all I care. My sentence is currently twenty seven executions without trial, and two with, of course, no one but the military knows that, and even then, most of the people that knew of my sentence were killed in the Shinjuku incident."

Of course, when he'd asked about the massive facility, and how it came into being, Lelouch simply gave a large grin, and said that he didn't want to know.

Thankfully, the knightmares weren't such as mystery, as it had been frequently mentioned that he, Ruby and Zero had been working on them for a number of years. When he'd asked about why The absolution, a Knightmare the size and weight of more than three Sutherlands, and why it had no shoulder armour, Ruby walked off grumbling something about a lack of death rays and how the lasers were being unruly. Of course, being the ever-vigilant friend that he was, Lelouch had gladly filled him in. "With our antimatter micro-darts, proton cannons, antigravity systems, and railguns; all we need to fulfil our arsenal are death lasers."

He'd later asked about the other Knightmares Ruby and Lelouch were creating, and while he'd gotten a decent overview of their specifications, he hadn't managed to see them, due to them having their antimatter and sakuradite cores installed. When he'd asked about where they'd gotten the antimatter, Lelouch had simply smiled and said that it was Ruby's little secret.

After an introduction with the rest of the members most of them being scientists, and the group that Lelouch had helped out in Shinjuku, along with a Japanese maid that happened to doubled as a ninja, he'd finally gone upstairs with Lelouch, as much as he wanted to see Nunnally, he'd also wanted to see how the two of them had been living these past few years.

When Lelouch had brought him to Nunnally, she'd quite literally cried until she couldn't walk anymore, and had to retire.

When Lelouch had been tucking her in, her hand still held in still in his own, she'd asked the question Suzaku had feared more than anything since the Shinjuku incident.

"Big brother, a… are you really Zero?" She'd asked it with so much care, so much sincerity, and so much sadness that he had to restrain himself from crying in front of the two siblings.

Lelouch smiled at her and patted her on the head, before taking her hand, "I have held the mantle of Zero for long enough now, and while I will funding him and designing Knightmares for our cause, I assure you that I will not be in harms way any more than you, true, I have a Knightmare that is capable of levelling a small town, but I promise that I will always be here for you."

Nunnally smiled at that, among her many years of blindness, she'd picked up the ability of palm reading. It wasn't as convoluted as reading the future or anything like that, but she could easily read emotions and tell the truth from lies, and what Lelouch had said was true.

The two of them had explained the situation about how Suzaku had been arrested, and why he'd been chosen as a scapegoat. Despite her naïveté and kindness, she'd been furious, saying that nobody deserved to be framed for something they didn't do.

While she'd quickly calmed down, thanks to the fact that Suzaku had been okay, and that the two teenagers stood by her bed, holding her hands, she'd still whacked Lelouch on his head, due to the fact that he'd put himself in danger.

After a short amount of time, including several short jokes about how Lelouch was completely incompetent when it came to sport, despite the fact that he regularly had to lug large crates of mechanical stuffs around, usually when Ruby was working, or just too lazy to do so herself.

* * *

 **2017 a.t.b. Student council clubhouse, Ashford academy, May 16th.**

Considering the personalities of the various students in the student council, most people believe that barely any work actually gets done. They would be right.

Among the six members of the student council, one's a resistance fighter, whom also happens to be an ace pilot, capable of bringing out every scrap of ability any Knightmare has.

The next leads said resistance group, living a double life. One side is the distant, aloof and extremely attractive student, whom earns millions by simply playing chess against the aristocracy, while the other is a scientist that, with the help of his insane sister, builds knightmares that rival even the Lancelot and Guren.

The third is often considered the most perverted being on the entire planet, she often plans school-wide events, simply to watch her minions squirm. Lelouch is often spared from this, considering he actually has blackmail on her, rather than the other way around, which is what usually happens.

The fourth has a crust on the second that could easily rival the entire American continent. She's supple, willing, and gullible to the point of hilarity.

The fifth has a minor crust on the third, and while it isn't anything major, he is extremely persistent. Other than being the resident comic relief, he's pretty useless.

The sixth is the most xenophobic, lesbian genius. She's extremely shy, has a fear of Asians, and would gladly wipe them off the face of the earth. Despite her lack of funding, she is currently developing a project with two paths. One of which leads to a virtually unlimited power source, where the other leads to a bomb with an explosive radius of over ten kilometres.

So it wasn't much of a shock when the six members were doing absolutely nothing in terms of work, and were instead discussing the news. Much of said new was prejudiced bullshit, however they still somehow got the point across.

Said point being the lack of one honorary Britannian by the name of Suzaku Kururugi.

"So, do you think He's keeping him locked up, or he's willingly joined?" Milly asked, her perverted nature all but suggesting what they might be doing to the poor boy.

"Considering the leaks that are currently on the Internet, I'd say that he's been locked up," Rivalz commented, flipping his phone out to show the others.

"I'd actually go so far as to say the opposite," Lelouch mused. He knew the truth, of course. He'd been the one to show him around the underground facility he owned, and Suzaku was probably in the KMF simulators right now.

"Considering that the leak happened so soon after the rescue/kidnapping, and that Zero's group couldn't be that large, else he'd have used a less flashy escape route, I think that the so called leak was intentionally to throw the court off, to prevent them from cracking down on the locals."

He looked at the others before continuing. "Besides, He would most likely be executed or imprisoned for life, if not for Zero, of course, so what'd the point be, if they were just going to lock him up again. I knew Suzaku as a child, and as soon as he has an idea in his head, he will cling to it harder than Nunnally."

The others seemed to agree with what he'd just said, save Nina, of course. She just questioned how Lelouch could possibly be friends with an eleven. He'd of course replied as he usually did, using logic above all else.

"Nina, They are people, just like us. Yes, they usually look a little different, and yes, they were born in a different location, but they are still humans."

Nina took offence to this.

"THEY'RE NOTHING BUT ANIMALS!" She shouted, earning a shocked intake of breath from all but Lelouch, who simply looked back into her eyes, intending t defeat her using logic.

"And what of the emperor, a man whom pits his very children against each other, as if they were nothing more than playthings."

Nina was utterly shocked; saying something like that was borderline treason, if not heresy.

"It's his divine right to-" Lelouch cut her off there. "He's human, as human as anyone else in this world. True, he has a position of power. But take that away, and what is he?" Lelouch leaned in a little closer to Nina, who flinched a little and looked down.

"He's nothing more than a man with a fancy chair, a harem of nubile women, and a bunch of kids."

Nina was completely stunned, her silence allowing Lelouch to really get started. He's a man who casually strips entire nations of their rights, names, pride; even their souls are taken. The reasons countries under Britannia are so violent is because they're treated worse than humans, when humans are exactly what they are."

He put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up, a tear stained face replacing the previous anger filled one.

"Tell me, have you ever lost someone in area 11? A brother, maybe sister?" He asked, a soft smile showing his sincerity.

"Y-yeah, My brother, he was four at the time… and. And I just can't let go. I want to so badly, but I just can't." She whimpered, completely breaking at the end of her sentence. Her tears spilled freely down her cheeks, and her shoulders shook worse than even his when his mother died.

"Shh, Shh. Let it out," He whispered, hugging her tightly, something she needed very much right now.

He quickly gestured towards the door, leaving the two of them alone.

After almost ten minutes, she stopped crying. "If I'm not mistaken, you're working on a project involving sakuradite and uranium, correct?"

She nodded slowly.

"Why don't you tell me a little about it? Take you mind off you brother for a little," He asked, smiling at the now slightly healthier looking Nina.

She gingerly wiped her tears away, and brought over her laptop, showing a myriad of calculations.

"I-if you can get uranium atoms to absorb active neutrons, like the ones released by sakuradite, it could completely remove radiation poisoning, and allow the harvesting of energy through fission and fusion alike." Nina explained, looking a little happier at Lelouch's understanding expression.

"Hmm, either an infinite energy source or very… very big boom…." Lelouch mused, a little shocked at the calculated reaction.

"Hmm," Lelouch mumbled, looking for the best way to get Nina on his side without using his Geass, something he only relied on for a last resort. He was human after all.

"I have a proposal." Nina perked up at that. "I want you to work for me, and In turn, you'll get your own lab, enough funding for any future projects you desire, and a large amount of advanced technology."

Lelouch smiled as the gears in Nina's head began turning.

"You see, I have been working on my won project, a type of hypnosis that can theoretically cure almost any psychological condition… including Xenophobia." Lelouch smiled as Nina's eyes widened. She looked Lelouch directly in his eyes, as her own began watering. "P-please, I just want to let go of my hatred."

He hugged her silently, before whispering into her ear. "We can begin anytime you're ready."

The two of them leaned back, and Lelouch looked Nina in the eye.

"Obey these next commands: No longer will you fear elevens, no longer will you have hatred towards elevens, you will now forgive them for taking your brother away from you." he smiled sadistically, his geass still active. "You will develop all current and future projects for me. And you will not leak any of what the two of us will work on in the future. Lastly, you will sleep until you feel rested."

"Yes, My lord," Nina responded sleepily, before slumping together, asleep.

Lelouch hurriedly caught her before she fell to the ground. He picked her up bridal style, making sure the absurdly short skirt didn't fall and reveal her panties. Lelouch may be a cold, manipulative bastard, but he wasn't a pervert.

"Ah, Kallen," Lelouch exclaimed as he exited the student council room. "Could you please be so kind as to take Nina to her dorm room, it's number twelve-B, I believe."

"She works for the BK now," Lelouch explained, allowing Kallen to grab the poor girl.

"But… how'd you get rid of her xenophobia?" She asked, a little shocked at how quickly Lelouch worked. He may be good at getting resources, and he may be excellent at manipulation, but that was absurdly quick.

"Audio stimulated hypnotisation. Don't worry, it was something she wanted." Kallen looked at him suspiciously, before walking off to the girls' dorms.

What she didn't notice was the extreme blush on Nina's cheeks; she'd quite literally woken up with her face between Kallen's Breasts. **(It's weekend and most students are at home, so Kallen can afford to not act frail. She's only there because of council business).**

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, that was that. I've written pretty much all of this chapter while on the road.**

 **And while it has been a both entertaining trip, and a fantastic family visit, I still want to ask about shipping, what pairings I should use, hint at, or go full out on. I can promise that I'll suck at lemons, but I might add them if there's somebody out there that really wants to fap to something, but sadly can't find anywhere else on the internet to do so.**

 **Before you vote/suggest, know that when I write romance, it'll be slow, not his instant love bullshit I seem to find in everywhere but this fandom. If lemons occur, it'll be in later chapters.**

 **Feel free to suggest pairings in the comments, personal messages, or in the poll that I'll probably forget to put on my profile.**

 **Sayonara.**


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